Street Gangs, Group Identity and Their Relation to Gang Violence: An Analysis of Street Gangs in El Salvador

The multinuclear metal–ligand supramolecular synthon R–CC⊃Ag_<i>n</i> (R = alkyl, cycloalkyl; <i>n</i> = 3, 4, 5) has been employed to construct two high-nuclearity silver ethynide cluster compounds, [Cl₆Ag₈@Ag₃₀(^<i>t</i>BuCC)₂₀(ClO₄)₁₂]·Et₂O (<b>1</b>) and [Cl₆Ag₈@Ag₃₀(chxCC)₂₀(ClO₄)₁₀]­(ClO₄)₂·1.5Et₂O (chx = cyclohexyl) (<b>2</b>), that bear the same novel Cl₆Ag₈ central core. The synthesis of <b>1</b> made use of [Cl@Ag₁₄(^<i>t</i>BuCC)₁₂]­OH as a precursor, and its reaction with AgClO₄ in CH₂Cl₂ resulted in an increase in nuclearity from 14 to 38. The results presented here strongly suggest that the formation of multinuclear silver ethynide cage complexes <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> proceeds by a reassembly process in solution that involves transformation of the encapsulated chloride template within a Ag₁₄ cage into a cationic pseudo-<i>O</i>_<i>h</i> Cl₆Ag₈ inner core, leading to the generation of a much enlarged Cl₆Ag₈@Ag₃₀ cluster within a cluster. To our knowledge, this provides the first example of the conversion of a silver cluster into one of higher nuclearity via inner-core transformation

Ligand-Induced Assembly of Coordination Chains and Columns Containing High-Nuclearity Silver(I) Ethynide Cluster Units

The multinuclear metal–ligand supramolecular synthon RC₆H₄CC⊃Ag_<i>n</i> (R = Me, F; <i>n</i> = 3–5) has been employed to construct the two high-nuclearity silver ethynide cluster compounds [(NO₃)₂@Ag₂₆(<i>o</i>-MeC₆H₄CC)₁₆]­(NO₃)₈·5H₂O (<b>1</b>) and [NO₃@Ag₁₅(<i>o</i>-FC₆H₄CC)₁₀]­(NO₃)₄ (<b>2</b>), which bear the same nitrate central core. The synthesis of [CrO₄@Ag₁₈(<i>i</i>PrCC)₁₂]­(ClO₄)₄ (<b>3</b>) and [ClO₄@Ag₁₈(<i>i</i>PrCC)₁₂]­(ClO₄)₅ (<b>4</b>) demonstrated the effect of variation of central anionic core size and charge on the construction of multidimensional organosilver­(I) networks. The bulkiness of the peripheral ligands and the orientation of substituents with respect to the ethynide group proved to be dominant factors that direct the formation of high-nuclearity clusters and the assembly of coordination networks. To our knowledge, <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> are the first examples using the nitrate anion for templated cluster synthesis

Argentophilic Infinite Chain, Column, and Layer Structures Assembled with the Multinuclear Silver(I)–Phenylethynide Supramolecular Synthon

Nine silver­(I) complexes bearing the phenylethynide ligand and different ancillary anions, namely, double salts AgCCPh·AgNO₃ (<b>1</b>), 2AgCCPh·AgNO₃ (<b>2</b>), [Ag₅(CCPh)₄(DMSO)₂]­X [X = BF₄ (<b>3A</b>), ClO₄ (<b>3B</b>), PF₆ (<b>3C</b>), AsF₆ (<b>3D</b>), SbF₆ (<b>3E</b>)], 2AgCCPh·5AgO₂CCF₃·4DMSO (<b>4</b>), and a triple salt 10AgCCPh·2AgOTf·AgNO₃·3DMSO (<b>5</b>), have been synthesized and shown to possess coordination frameworks that are assembled with the supramolecular synthon Ph–CC⊃Ag_<i>n</i> (<i>n</i> = 3, 4, 5). Different argentophilic layers are found in nitrate complexes <b>1</b> and <b>2</b>, which are crystallized from water and mixed water/DMSO, respectively. Difficulty was encountered in growing quality crystals of complexes <b>3A</b>–<b>3E</b>,<b> 4</b>, and <b>5</b> bearing weakly coordinating anions, but DMSO proved to be a good solvent for crystallization by functioning as a coligand. The isostructural compounds <b>3A</b>–<b>3E</b> exhibit the same type of pseudohexagonal packing of infinite silver columns, with the ancillary anionic component filling the intervening space and linking adjacent columns via weak hydrogen bonds. Three-dimensional supramolecular frameworks based on similar packing of silver chains and columns, respectively, are found in double salt <b>4</b> and triple salt <b>5</b>