Three new silver–chalcogenide clusters protected by naphthyl ligands are described in this work, namely [Ag14(SCH2C10H7)6(CF3COO)8(DMAc)6] (1), [Ag30(SCH2C10H7)18(CrO4)2(DMAc)2 (CF3COO)8] (DMAc = dimethylacetamide) (2) and {Ag12(SCH2C10H7)6(CF3COO)4(CH3CN)6(Cr2O7)}n (3). Their crystal structures were studied by X-ray crystallography, and they show hollow-core–shell (1), template-core–shell (2) and 1D infinite (3) structures, respectively. The luminescence properties of cluster 1 were investigated, which showed interesting thermochromic variation from red to bright yellow. Moreover, the chromate ions were proven to act as templates in forming the silver clusters through a series of experiments to prepare compounds 2 and 3, which could be considered as derivatives of cluster 1.
