Are Metal Complexes “Organic,” “Inorganic,” “Organometallic,” or “Metal-Organic” Materials? A case Study for the Use of Trinuclear Coinage Metal Complexes as “Metal-Organic Coatings” for Corrosion Suppression on Aluminum Substrates

A scalable, eco-friendly ultralow-temperature approach to forming Al2O3 water-repellent cotton coatings via UV photo-annealing

Hydrophobic coatings on cotton fabrics were successfully prepared via solution deposition of a “flat” nanoscale aluminum hydroxo cluster and a photo-assisted anneal using ultraviolet light. The coatings have a low...

Coinage-Metal-Based Cyclic Trinuclear Complexes with Metal-Metal Interactions: Theories to Experiments and Structures to Functions

Among the d¹⁰ coinage metal complexes, cyclic trinuclear complexes (CTCs) or trinuclear metallocycles with intratrimer metal-metal interactions are fascinating and important metal-organic or organometallic π-acids/bases. Each CTC of characteristic planar or near-planar trimetal nine-membered rings consists of Au(I)/Ag(I)/Cu(I) cations that linearly coordinate with N and/or C atoms in ditopic anionic bridging ligands. Since the first discovery of Au(I) CTC in the 1970s, research of CTCs has involved several fundamental areas, including noncovalent and metallophilic interaction, excimer/exciplex, acid-base chemistry, metalloaromaticity, supramolecular assemblies, and host/guest chemistry. These allow CTCs to be embraced in a wide range of innovative potential applications that include chemical sensing, semiconducting, gas and liquid adsorption/separation, catalysis, full-color display, and solid-state lighting. This review aims to provide a historic and comprehensive summary on CTCs and their extension to higher nuclearity complexes and coordination polymers from the perspectives of synthesis, structure, theoretical insight, and potential applications.