Structure and reactivity of metal clusters of the platinum group

铂族金属广泛用于多相催化应用。通常，这些催化剂还含有纳米分散形式的金属。这个项目的目的是对只包含几个原子、团簇的非常小的金属颗粒的结构特性及其化学行为进行实验研究。不同类型的光谱将被用来获得关于气相中Ru、Rh、Ir和铂的小金属团簇的几何和电子结构的更详细的信息。特别是，我们将应用光激发、阴离子光电子和红外光谱。这些互补方法的结合将给出一套全面的参考数据，以检验和进一步发展用于描述铂族簇合物的理论方法。第二个主要焦点将是研究这些星系团对甲烷的活化。利用与Ar原子的配体交换，我们最近已经能够制备铂原子簇与分子，但强烈活化的甲烷的络合物。我们现在建议对这类络合物进行更详细的研究，并诱导氢转移反应到金属上，以探索与这些络合物中C-H键断裂相关的势能面(S)。这些对一个表征良好的模型系统的研究可以对小金属颗粒上的C-H活化机理提供前所未有的深入了解。

Metals of the platinum group are widely used in heterogeneous catalytic applications. Often these catalysts also contain the metal in nano-dispersed form. This project aims for an experimental investigation of the structural properties of very small metal particles that contain only a few atoms, clusters, and their chemical behaviour. Different types of spectroscopy will be applied to obtain more detailed information on the geometric and electronic structure of small metal clusters of ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, and platinum in the gas phase. In particular we will apply optical excitation, anion photo electron, and infrared spectroscopy. The combination of these complimentary methods shall give a comprehensive set of reference data to test and further develop theoretical methods used for the description of the platinum group clusters. A second major focus will be the investigation of methane activation by these clusters. Using ligand exchange with argon atoms we have been recently able to prepare complexes of platinum clusters with molecular, but strongly activated, methane. We now propose a more detailed investigation of such complexes also for other metals and to induce H-transfer reactions to the metal to probe the potential energy surface(s) relevant for C-H bond breaking in these complexes. These studies on a well-characterizable model system can give unprecedented insights into the mechanism of C-H activation on small metal particles.