FT/ICR-mass spectrometry in nanotechnology: the investigation of metalloid clusters.

The particularity of metalloid clusters as a special kind of metal atom cluster is described. For the first time such metalloid clusters are investigated in the gas phase by means of FT/ICR-mass spectrometry, the results of which show that metalloid clusters represent a bridge between the bulk metal and metal compounds that can be found in solution after oxidation of the bulk metal. The metalloid clusters presented herein are [Ga19R6]- (R=C(SiMe3)3), and SiAl14Cp*6 and the precursor Al4Cp*4 (Cp*=eta5-C5Me5).