Photo- and Temperature-Induced Reversible Structural Transformation between Dodecanuclear and Pentadecanuclear Gold(I) Sulfido Complexes.

Stimuli-responsive structural transformation has attracted much attention for its potential to mimic the behavior of biological transformations and functions. Here, two unprecedented dodecanuclear and pentadecanuclear gold(I) sulfido clusters (denoted trans -Au 12 and trans -Au 15 , respectively) with impressive stimuli-responsive interconversion have been obtained by taking advantage of the judiciously designed tridentate phosphine ligand L trans as the building block. Both UV light and temperature can be applied to trigger the structural conversions between trans -Au 12 and trans -Au 15 . In addition, NMR, high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy have been employed to monitor the transformation process and decipher the mechanism of structural conversion. This work not only provides a paradigm to investigate photo-induced cluster-to-cluster transformation based on polydentate phosphine ligands but also offers a new direction for the construction of the stimuli-responsive materials.