Issue 11/2015 - Chinese chemists co-formed aromatic clusters

Recently, Professor Zhao Bin's research group at the School of Chemistry of Nankai University and Professor Li Jun's research group in the Department of Chemistry of Tsinghua University have made major breakthroughs
in the research of "cubic aromatic metal clusters".
Professor Zhao Bin combined his research to form octanuclear Zn(I) cubic structure clusters with high thermal stability and solvent stability
.
Professor Li Jun's research group proposed the concept of "cubic aromatology" and the 6n+2 electron counting rule to explain the special stability
of the octanuclear Zn(I) cubic structure.

The newly synthesized octanuclear Zn(I) cubic structure cluster has an unprecedented cubic aromatic electronic structure, and the low-oxidation similar structures of other metal ions have also been synthesized one after another
.
These stable, rare oxidized metal clusters can be compounded into functional materials such as nanomaterials and porous materials
as functional units.
It is expected that it will have unique functional performance in optical, electrical, magnetic, catalytic, ultra-high information storage and many currently unimaginable fields, providing new ways
for the exploration of advanced materials.

This achievement breaks through the research of metal-metal bonds from low oxidized bimetals to polymetals, and for the first time realizes the grafting of functional units of +1 oxidized Zn-Zn bonding into metal-organic frameworks and other materials, which provides a new idea
for the construction of functional new materials containing +1 oxidized elements.
In theory, the concept of cubic aromatology not only expands the existing aroma theory, but also is expected to become a new concept in chemical science, opening up a new vision
for researchers in this field.
(Kyrgyzstan)