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Xi Li,12Aleksey E. Kuznetsov,3Hai-Feng Zhang,12Alexander I. Boldyrev,3*Lai-Sheng Wang12*
Aromaticity is a concept invented to account for the unusual
stability of an important class of organic molecules: the aromaticcompounds. Here we report experimental and theoretical evidenceof
aromaticity in all-metal systems. A series of bimetallic clusterswith
chemical composition MAl4- (M = Li, Na,
or Cu), was created and studied with photoelectronspectroscopy and ab
initio calculations. All the MAl4- species
possess a pyramidal structure containing an M+ cation
interacting with a square Al42- unit. Ab
initio studies indicate that Al42- exhibits
characteristics of aromaticity with two delocalized electrons (thus
following the 4n + 2 electron counting rule)and a
square planar structure and maintains its structural andelectronic
features in all the MAl4- complexes. These
findings expand the aromaticity concept intothe arena of all-metal
species.
1 Department of Physics, Washington State
University, 2710 University Drive, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
2 W. R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences
Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Mail Stop K8-88,
Post Office Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
3 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah
State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
boldyrev{at}cc.usu.edu (A.I.B.); ls.wang{at}pnl.gov (L.S.W.)
electrons (thus
following the 4n + 2 electron counting rule) and a
square planar structure and maintains its structural and electronic
features in all the MAl4- complexes. These
findings expand the aromaticity concept into the arena of all-metal
species.
