Surface Engineering of Metal Nanoclusters for Catalyzing Organic Transformations

Metal nanoclusters have emerged as promising catalysts for organic transformations due to their high catalytic activity, unique selectivity, and atomically precise structures. Nevertheless, metal nanoclusters face the issue of structural instability during catalysis, necessitating the use of strongly coordinating ligands, such as thiols, to protect the metal cores from aggregation or decomposition. A central challenge in this field lies in developing surface engineering strategies that simultaneously stabilize the nanoclusters and expose their active sites. Consequently, significant research efforts focusing on surface ligand engineering and metal engineering have been made to precisely regulate the stability and catalytic properties of metal nanoclusters. This review highlights recent advances in metal nanocluster-catalyzed organic transformations, with a particular focus on surface ligand engineering strategies. The role of surface metal doping in tuning catalytic activity and selectivity is also discussed, along with emerging trends in this field.