Ligand induced structural isomerism in phosphine coordinated gold clusters revealed by ion mobility mass spectrometry

Structural isomerism in ligated gold clusters is revealed using electrospray ionization ion mobility spectrometry mass spectrometry. Phosphine ligated Au8 clusters are shown to adopt more extended type structures with increasing exchange of methyldiphenylphosphine (MePPh2) for triphenylphosphine (PPh3). These ligand-dependant structure–property relationships are critical to theoretical modeling of clusters as well as their applications in catalysis and photovoltaics.