Research

Increasingly large oxo cluster compounds of the lanthanides can be prepared and stabilized with electropositive chalcogen encapsulants - the latest example being the Nd₁₂O₆ cluster pictured here (S. Banerjee, G. A. Kumar, R. Riman, T. J. Emge, and J. Brennan, "Monodisperse Oxoclusters of the Lanthanides Begin to Resemble Solid State Materials at Very Small Cluster Sizes: Structure and Near-IR Emission from Nd(III)", J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 5926). With cluster dimensions greater than 1 nm, these materials exhibit hybrid molecular/solid-state properties, including structural characteristics that resemble solid-state lanthanide oxides, and emission properties that blend the characteristics of molecular and solid-state sources.