Scientists have produced a 3-D cluster molecule based on palladium. First, they created a ‘butterfly-shaped’ Pd4 framework, using an organosilicon compounds bearing the aromatic substitutents as both template and support for the palladium atoms. Then, using another template, they connected two butterfly-shaped Pd4 skeleton, via chlorine, into a Pd6 cluster based on edge-sharing tetrahedra. This strategy using organosilicons to design customized subnano-architectures may enable design of a range of functional materials and catalysts.