Highly Robust but Surface-Active: N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Stabilized Au25 Nanocluster as a Homogeneous Catalyst

<div> <div> <div> <p>Surface organic ligands play a critical role in stabilizing atomically precise metal nanoclusters in solutions. However, it is still challenging to prepare highly robust ligated metal nanoclusters that are surface-active for liquid-phase catalysis without any pre-treatment. Herein, we report a novel N-heterocyclic carbine-stabilized Au25 nanocluster with high thermal and air stabilities as a homogenous catalyst for cycloisomerization of alkynyl amines to indoles. The nanocluster, characterized as [Au25(iPr2-bimy)10Br7]2+ (iPr2-bimy=diisopropyl-benzilidazolium) (1), was synthesized by direct reduction of AuSMe2Cl and iPr2- bimyAuBr with NaBH4 in o…