Search for: All records

A number of technologies would benefit from developing inorganic compounds and materials with specific electronic and magnetic exchange properties. Unfortunately, designing compounds with these properties is difficult because metal⋅⋅⋅metal coupling schemes are hard to predict and control. Fully characterizing communication between metals in existing compounds that exhibit interesting properties could provide valuable insight and advance those predictive capabilities. One such class of molecules are the series of Lindqvist iron‐functionalized and hexavanadium polyoxovanadate‐alkoxide clusters, which we characterized here using V K‐edge X‐ray absorption spectroscopy. Substantial changes in the pre‐edge peak intensities were observed that tracked with the V 3d‐electron count. The data also suggested substantial delocalization between the vanadium cations. Meanwhile, the Fe^IIIcations were electronically isolated from the polyoxovanadate core.

 

We report accelerated rates of oxygen-atom transfer from a polyoxovanadate–alkoxide cluster following functionalization with a 4- tert butylcalix[4]arene ligand. Incorporation of this electron withdrawing ligand modifies the electronics of the metal oxide core, favoring a mechanism in which the rate of oxygen-atom transfer is limited by outer-sphere electron transfer. 

Here, we present the first example of reductive silylation for oxygen defect formation at the surface of a polyoxometalate. Upon addition of 1,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)dihydropyrazine (Pyz(SiMe 3 ) 2 ) to [V 6 O 7 (OMe) 12 ] 1− , quantitative formation of the oxygen-deficient vanadium oxide assembly, [V 6 O 6 (OMe) 12 ] 1− was observed. Substoichiometric reactions of Pyz(SiMe 3 ) 2 with the parent cluster revealed the mechanism of defect formation; addition of 0.5 equiv. of Pyz(SiMe 3 ) 2 to [V 6 O 7 (OMe) 12 ] 1− results in isolation of [V 6 O 6 (OSiMe 3 )(OMe) 12 ] 1− . This reactivity was extended to reduced and oxidized forms of the cluster, [V 6 O 7 (OMe) 12 ] n ( n = 2-, 0), revealing the consequences of modifying the oxidation states of remote transition metal ions on the stability of the siloxide functional group, and thus the extent of reactivity of the cluster surface with Pyz(SiMe 3 ) 2 . The work offers a new understanding of the mechanisms of surface activation of reducible metal oxides via reductive silylation, and reveals new chemical routes for the formation of oxygen atom vacancies in polyoxometalate ions. 

We report the synthesis and characterisation of a series of siloxide-functionalised polyoxovanadate–alkoxide (POV–alkoxide) clusters, [V 6 O 6 (OSiMe 3 )(OMe) 12 ] n ( n = 1−, 2−), that serve as molecular models for proton and hydrogen-atom uptake in vanadium dioxide, respectively. Installation of a siloxide moiety on the surface of the Lindqvist core was accomplished via addition of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethylsulfonate to the fully-oxygenated cluster [V 6 O 7 (OMe) 12 ] 2− . Characterisation of [V 6 O 6 (OSiMe 3 )(OMe) 12 ] 1− by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that the incorporation of the siloxide group does not result in charge separation within the hexavanadate assembly, an observation that contrasts directly with the behavior of clusters bearing substitutional dopants. The reduced assembly, [V 6 O 6 (OSiMe 3 )(OMe) 12 ] 2− , provides an isoelectronic model for H-doped VO 2 , with a vanadium( iii ) ion embedded within the cluster core. Notably, structural analysis of [V 6 O 6 (OSiMe 3 )(OMe) 12 ] 2− reveals bond perturbations at the siloxide-functionalised vanadium centre that resemble those invoked upon H-atom uptake in VO 2 through ab initio calculations. Our results offer atomically precise insight into the local structural and electronic consequences of the installation of hydrogen-atom-like dopants in VO 2 , and challenge current perspectives of the operative mechanism of electron–proton co-doping in these materials. 

Polyoxovanadate (POV) clusters are an important subclass of polyoxometalates with a broad range of molecular compositions and physicochemical properties. One relatively underdeveloped application of these polynuclear assemblies involves their use as atomically precise, homogenous molecular models for bulk metal oxides. Given the structural and electronic similarities of POVs and extended vanadium oxide materials, as well as the relative ease of modifying the homogenous congeners, investigation of the chemical and physical properties of pristine and modified cluster complexes presents a method toward understanding the influence of structural modifications ( e.g. crystal structure/phase, chemical makeup of surface ligands, elemental dopants) on the properties of extended solids. This review summarises recent advances in the use of POV clusters as atomically precise models for bulk metal oxides, with particular focus on the assembly of vanadium oxide clusters and the consequences of altering the molecular composition of the assembly via organofunctionalization and the incorporation of elemental “dopants”. 

Reducible metal oxides (RMOs) are widely used materials in heterogeneous catalysis due to their ability to facilitate the conversion of energy-poor substrates to energy-rich chemical fuels and feedstocks. Theoretical investigations have modeled the role of RMOs in catalysis and found they traditionally follow a mechanism in which the generation of oxygen-atom vacancies is crucial for the high activity of these solid supports. However, limited spectroscopic techniques for in situ analysis renders the identification of the reactivity of individual oxygen-atom vacancies on RMOs challenging. These obstacles can be circumvented through the use of homogeneous complexes as molecular models for metal oxides, such as polyoxometalates. Summarized herein, a sub-class of polyoxometalates, polyoxovanadate–alkoxide clusters, ([V 6 O 7 (OR) 12 ] n ; R = CH 3 , C 2 H 5 ; n = 2−, 1−, 0), are explored as homogeneous molecular models for bulk vanadium oxide. A series of synthetic strategies have been employed to access oxygen-deficient vanadium oxide assemblies, including addition of V(Mes) 3 (thf), tertiary phosphanes, and organic acids to plenary Lindqvist motifs. We further detail investigations surrounding the ability of these oxygen-deficient sites to mediate reductive transformations such as O 2 and NO x 1− ( x = 2, 3) activation.