Title: A Gigantic Molecular Wheel of {Gd140}: A New Member of the Molecular Wheel Family

Authors: Xiu-Ying Zheng, You-Hong Jiang, Gui-Lin Zhuang, Da-Peng Liu, Hong-Gang Liao, Xiang-Jian Kong, La-Sheng Long, and Lan-Sun Zheng

Abstract:

Nanoscale inorganic wheel-shaped structures are one of the most striking molecular aggregations. Here, we report the synthesis of a gigantic lanthanide wheel cluster containing 140 Gd3+ atoms. As the largest lanthanide cluster reported thus far, {Gd140} features an attractive wheel-like structure with tenfold symmetry. The nanoscopic molecular wheel possesses the largest diameter of 6.0 nm and displays high stability in solution, which allows direct visualization by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The discovery of the lanthanide {Gd140} cluster represents a new member of the molecular wheel family.

Full-Link: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jacs.7b11112