Evolution of atomically precise clusters through the eye of mass spectrometry

Enormous developments in the area of soluble noble metal clusters protected with monolayers are discussed. Mass spectrometry has been the principal tool with which cluster growth has been examined. The composition and chemistry of clusters have been examined extensively by mass spectrometry. Besides gold, silver, platinum, copper and iron clusters have been examined. Clusters have also been examined by tandem mass spectrometry and the importance of ligands in understanding closed shell electronic structure is understood from such studies. Protein protected noble metal clusters belong to a new group in this family of materials. Naked metal clusters bearing the same core composition as that of monolayer protected clusters is another class in this area, which have been discovered by laser desorption ionization from protein templates.