Liganded Silver and Gold Quantum Clusters: Background of Their Structural, Electronic, and Optical Properties

The purpose of this chapter is first to introduce physical background allowing one to gain understanding about the connection between electronic energy quantization in metal nanoclusters and their optical properties. The optical response, in terms of electronic transitions whose positions and intensities are predicted by sophisticated quantum mechanical calculations, will be described. The concept of ligand-protected metal clusters will be introduced, and we then will summarize briefly the synthetic work on liganded quantum clusters of gold and silver and their characterization. Finally, we will discuss the link between their structural, electronic, and optical properties.