Metal Chalcogenide Clusters on the Border between Molecules and Materials

The preparative and materials chemistry of high nuclearity transition metal chalcogenide nanoclusters has been in the focus of our research for many years. These polynuclear metal compounds possess rich photophysical properties and can be understood as intermediates between mononuclear complexes and binary bulk phases. Based on our previous results we discuss herein recent advances in three different areas of cluster research. In the field of copper selenide clusters we present the synthesis of monodisperse, nanostructured alpha-Cu2Se via the thermolysis of well-defined cluster compounds as well as our approaches in the synthesis of functionalized In case of silver chalcogenides we established a strategy to synthesis cluster compounds containing several hundreds of silver atoms with the nanoclusters arranging in a closely packed crystal lattice. Finally the presented chalcogenide clusters of the group 12 metals (Zn, Cd, Hg) can be taken as model compounds for corresponding nanoparticles as even the smallest of frameworks display a clear structural relationship to the bulk materials.