Optical, Electrochemical, and Catalytic Properties of the Unsaturated Host Pd3(dppm)3(CO)2+ and Pd4(dppm)4(H)2+ 2 Clusters: An Overview

This paper presents an overview of the optical, photophysical, and photochemical properties including UV-visible and luminescence spectra in solution at 298 and 77 K, along with electrochemical, and catalytic behavior under reduction conditions (for both thermally and electrochemically assisted systems) of the tri- and tetranuclear Pd₃(dppm)₃(CO)²⁺ and Pd₄(dppm)₄(H)²⁺ ₂ clusters (dppm=bis(diphenylphosphino)methane). This review is also complemented with relevant information about their syntheses, molecular and electronic structures supported from computer modeling, EHMO and DFT calculations, and their host-guest behavior with anions and neutral molecules, in relation with their observed reactivity.