Nestlike Silver(I) Thiolate Clusters with Tunable Emission Color Templated by Heteroanions.

Four silver thiolate clusters, [H3 O][(Ag3 S3 )(BF4 )@Ag27 (tBuS)18 (hfac)6 H2 O]⋅H2 O (1; hfac = hexafluoroacetylacetone), [(Ag3 S3 )(CF3 CO2 )@Ag30 (tBuS)16 (CF3 CO2 )9 (CH3 CN)4 ]⋅CF3 CO2 ⋅4 CH3 CN (2), [(Ag3 S3 )(MoO4 )@Ag30 (tBuS)16 (CF3 CO2 )9 (CH3 CN)4 ]⋅2 CH3 CN (3), and [(Ag3 S3 )(CrO4 )@Ag30 (tBuS)16 (CF3 CO2 )9 (CH3 CN)4 ]⋅4 CH3 CN (4), were isolated. They have similar nestlike structures assembled by an [Ag3 S3 ]3- template together with one of the BF4 - , CF3 CO2 - , MoO4 2- , or CrO4 2- anions. Interestingly, the solid-state emissions of 2-4 are dependent on the templating anions and are tunable from green to orange and then to red by changing the template from CF3 CO2 - to MoO4 2- and to CrO4 2- , and this may be correlated to the charge transfer between these templates to metal atoms. This work helps to understand the templating role of heteroanions and the relationship between structure and properties.