Cooperative Effects in Clusters and Oligonuclear Complexes of Transition Metals in Isolation

Abstract

This short review presents concepts of Transition Metal (TM) clusters and oligonuclear TM complexes and recent work on these when isolated. It focuses on experimental studies of such TM clusters and complexes in isolation and on quantum chemical calculations wherever needed. It introduces contemporary methods of TM cluster generation and of oligonuclear TM complex isolation, as well as options for their analysis. Exemplified by recent studies, the review elucidates shortly the kinetics of small molecule adsorption and of CH activation by TM clusters, the vibrations of adsorbates on TM cluster surfaces, the magnetism of TM clusters and of Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs) when isolated, and the vibrational fingerprints of oligonuclear TM complexes.