Synthesis, characterization and optical properties of low nuclearity liganded silver clusters: Ag31(SG)19 and Ag15(SG)11

We report a simple synthesis of silver: glutathione (Ag:SG) clusters using a cyclic reduction under oxidative conditions. Two syntheses are described which lead to solutions containing well-defined Ag-31(SG)(19) and Ag-15(SG)(11) clusters that have been characterized by mass spectrometry. The optical properties of silver: glutathione (Ag: SG) cluster solutions have been investigated experimentally. In particular, the solution containing Ag-15(SG)(11) clusters shows a bright and photostable emission. For Ag-31(SG)(19) and Ag-15(SG)(11) clusters, the comparison of experimental findings with DFT and TDDFT calculations allowed us to reveal the structural and electronic properties of such low nuclearity liganded silver clusters.