Hybrid Molecular Dumbbells: Bridging Polyoxometalate Clusters with an Organic π-Conjugated Rod

Versatile Post-functionalisation Strategy for the Formation of Modular Organic-Inorganic Polyoxometalate Hybrids

Hybrid structures incorporating different organic and inorganic constituents are emerging as a very promising class of materials since they synergistically combine the complementary and diverse properties of the individual components. Hybrid materials based on polyoxometalate clusters (POMs) are particularly interesting due to their versatile catalytic, redox, electronic, and magnetic properties, yet the controlled incorporation of different clusters into a hybrid structure is challenging and has been scarcely reported. Herein we propose a novel and general strategy for combining multiple types of metal-oxo clusters in a single hybrid molecule. Two novel hybrid POM structures (HPOMs) bis-functionalised with dipentaerythritol (R–POM₁–R; R = (OCH₂)₃CCH₂OCH₂C(CH₂OH)) were synthesised as building-blocks for the formation of heterometallic hybrid triads (POM₂–R–POM₁–R–POM₂). Such a modular approach resulted in the formation of four novel heterometallic hybrids combing the Lindqvist {V₆}, Anderson–Evans {XMo₆} (X = Cr or Al) and trisubstituted Wells–Dawson {P₂V₃W₁₅} POM structures. Their formation was confirmed by multinuclear Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), infrared (IR) and UV-Vis spectroscopy, as well as Mass Spectrometry, Diffusion Ordered Spectroscopy (DOSY) and elemental analysis. The thermal stability of the hybrids was also examined by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), which showed that the HPOM triads exhibit higher thermal stability than comparable hybrid structures containing only one type of POM. The one-pot synthesis of these novel compounds was achieved in high yields in aqueous and organic media under simple reflux conditions, without the need of any additives, and could be translated to create other hybrid materials based on a variety of metal-oxo cluster building-blocks.

A versatile modular approach has been developed for incorporating different metal-oxo nanoclusters with characteristic structures into a single hybrid molecule by covalently linking them with polyol ligands.

Hybrid polyoxometalates as post-functionalization platforms: from fundamentals to emerging applications

Polyoxometalates (POMs) represent an important group of metal-oxo nanoclusters, typically comprised of early transition metals in high oxidation states (mainly V, Mo and W). Many plenary POMs exhibit good pH, solvent, thermal and redox stability, which makes them attractive components for the design of covalently integrated hybrid organic-inorganic molecules, herein referred to as hybrid-POMs. Until now, thousands of organic hybrid-POMs have been reported; however, only a small fraction can be further functionalized using other organic molecules or metal cations. This emerging class of 'post-functionalizable' hybrid-POMs constitute a valuable modular platform that permits coupling of POM properties with different organic and metal cation functionalities, thereby expanding the key physicochemical properties that are relevant for application in (photo)catalysis, bioinorganic chemistry and materials science. The post-functionalizable hybrid-POM platforms offer an opportunity to covalently link multi-electron redox responsive POM cores with virtually any (bio)organic molecule or metal cation, generating a wide range of materials with tailored properties. Over the past few years, these materials have been showcased in the preparation of framework materials, functional surfaces, surfactants, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts and light harvesting materials, among others. This review article provides an overview on the state of the art in POM post-functionalization and highlights the key design and structural features that permit the discovery of new hybrid-POM platforms. In doing so, we aim to make the subject more comprehensible, both for chemists and for scientists with different materials science backgrounds interested in the applications of hybrid (POM) materials. The review article goes beyond the realms of polyoxometalate chemistry and encompasses emerging research domains such as reticular materials, surfactants, surface functionalization, light harvesting materials, non-linear optics, charge storing materials, and homogeneous acid-base catalysis among others.

From Simplicity to Complexity in Grafting Dawson-Type Polyoxometalates on Porphyrin, Leading to the Formation of New Organic-Inorganic Hybrids for the Investigation of Third-Order Optical Nonlinearities

Four new organic-inorganic hybrids, [N(C₄H₉)₄]₅H[{HNC₂O(CH₂O)₃P₂V₃W₁₅O₅₉}C₄₄N₄H₂₉O₃] (TPPOH-1POM), [N(C₄H₉)₄]₁₀H₂[{HNC₂O(CH₂O)₃P₂V₃W₁₅O₅₉}₂C₄₄N₄H₂₈O₂] (TPPOH-2POM trans), [N(C₄H₉)₄]₁₀H₂[{HNC₂O(CH₂O)₃P₂V₃W₁₅O₅₉}₂C₄₄N₄H₂₈O₂] (TPPOH-2POM cis), and [N(C₄H₉)₄]₁₅H₃[{HNC₂O(CH₂O)₃P₂W₁₅V₃O₅₉}₃C₄₄N₄H₂₇O] (TPPOH-3POM), have been synthesized by covalently grafting the Dawson-type polyoxometalate (POM) [N(C₄H₉)₄]₅[H₄P₂W₁₅V₃O₆₂] onto new porphyrins N-[1,3-dihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)propan-2-yl]-4-[10,15,20-tris(4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin-5-yl]benzamide (TPPOH-1Tris), 4,4'-[5,15-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin-10,20-diyl]bis[ N-[1,3-dihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)propan-2-yl]benzamide] (TPPOH-2Tris trans), 4,4'-[10,15-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin-5,20-diyl]bis[ N-[1,3-dihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)propan-2-yl]benzamide] (TPPOH-2Tris cis). and 4,4',4″-[20-(4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrin-5,10,15-triyl]tris[ N-[1,3-dihydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)propan-2-yl]benzamide] (TPPOH-3Tris), respectively, in N, N-dimethylacetamide under nitrogen. The hybrid compounds were thoroughly characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, NMR (¹H, 2D NOESY, ³¹P, and ⁵¹V), ESI-MS, MALDI-TOF-MS, UV-vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy. All porphyrins and their corresponding hybrids exhibited remarkable third-order nonlinear-optical responses under laser irradiation, with the intensity of light at focus E₀ being 4.2 μJ at wavelength 532 nm, pulse duration τ = 6 ns, and repetition rate 10 Hz. The molecular second hyperpolarizability (γ) values of the hybrids (TPPOH-1POM, TPPOH-2POM trans, TPPOH-2POM cis, TPPOH-3POM) were calculated to be 8.48 × 10^-28 esu, 8.94 × 10^-28 esu, 10.16 × 10^-28 esu, and 8.93 × 10^-28 esu, while the molecular second hyperpolarizability (γ) of their corresponding porphyrin precursors (TPPOH-1Tris, TPPOH-2Tris trans, TPPOH-2Tris cis, and TPPOH-3Tris) were 7.19 × 10^-28 esu, 8.09 × 10^-28 esu, 9.07 × 10^-28 esu, and 7.24 × 10^-28 esu, respectively. The γ values of the cis forms were found to be superior to those of all other compounds, indicating the significant role of the greater dipole moment and low symmetry of the cis form compared to other compounds. It was also found that the fluorescence intensity was decreased by 81.52%, 90.37%, 93.93%, and 84.62% for the hybrids TPPOH-1POM, TPPOH-2POM trans, TPPOH-2POM cis, and TPPOH-3POM with respect to their corresponding precursors, respectively, which reveals the Dawson-type POM as a strong quencher. This quenching phenomenon not only indicates again unequivocally the formation of hybrid compounds but also may imply a photoinduced electron/energy-transfer process favored from a porphyrin moiety to a Dawson-type POM moiety.

Core–shell structured magnetic silica supported propylamine/molybdate complexes: an efficient and magnetically recoverable nanocatalyst

A novel core–shell structured magnetic silica supported propylamine/molybdate complex (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂/Pr-NMo[Mo₅O₁₈]) is prepared, characterized and applied as an effective and easily recoverable nanocatalyst in the synthesis of pyrano-pyrazole derivatives.

Ligand-Directed Assembly of Polyoxovanadate-Based Metal-Organic Polyhedra

Three new polyoxovanadate-based metal-organic polyhedra (VMOPs) have been successfully synthesized and structurally characterized. Single crystals of three VMOPs were obtained by reaction of VCl3 and different carboxylate ligands (2,5-H2TDA = thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid for VMOP-4, m-H2BDC = 1,3-benzenedicarboxylic acid for VMOP-5, 2,6-H2NDC = 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic aid for VMOP-6) under solvothermal conditions. Though all of the three hybrids feature the same {V(V)V4(IV)} units, their structures exhibit differences changing from truncated triangular prism to truncated quadrangular prism to octahedron, mainly depending on the nature of carboxylate ligands. Furthermore, the magnetic investigations reveal that VMOP-4-6 show similar ferromagnetic behaviors.

A general and highly regioselective synthesis approach to multi-functionalized organoimido derivatives of Polyoxometalates

Organoimidoylization of Polyoxometalates (POMs) can dramatically modify the electronic structures of POMs and gives rise to novel “value-adding” properties of the POMs for promising material applications including photo-electronic transformation and catalysis. To date, the preparation of multi-functionalized organoimido derivatives of POMs is generally conducted under strict condition and is time-consuming with limited yields. Herein, a series of regioselective polyorganoimido derivatives of POMs, ocatant- [Mo₆O₁₃(NAr)₃(μ₂-NAr)₃]²⁻ (Ar = phenyl (1), p-methoxyphenyl (2) and p-ethylphenyl (3)), were synthesized with high selectivity and in good yields via a general and highly regioselective synthesis method, called as the one-octant synthesis protocol. The reaction was monitored by ESI-MS and the as-prepared products were studied by ESI-MS, IR, UV-Vis, EA, ¹HNMR, single crystal XRD analysis and DFT calculations. The one-octant synthesis protocol here may serve as an idea method to design novel nanoscale POM-based organic-inorganic multi-functional hybrids.

New sterically encumbered arylimido hexamolybdates for organic oxidation reactions

Surface modification of the parent hexamolybdate by aryl amines results in useful catalysts for the oxidation of cyclohexene to cyclohexene epoxide and benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and benzoic acid.

Polyoxometalate based open-frameworks (POM-OFs)

Polyoxometalate-based open frameworks (POM-OFs) are extended architectures incorporating metal-oxide cluster units and comprise an emergent family of materials with a large diversity of topologies, structural flexibility and functionality at the nanoscale.

Functionalization and post-functionalization: a step towards polyoxometalate-based materials

Polyoxometalates (POMs) have remarkable properties and a great deal of potential to meet contemporary societal demands regarding health, environment, energy and information technologies. However, implementation of POMs in various functional architectures, devices or materials requires a processing step. Most developments have considered the exchange of POM counterions in an electrostatically driven approach: immobilization of POMs on electrodes and other surfaces including oxides, embedding in polymers, incorporation into Layer-by-Layer assemblies or Langmuir-Blodgett films and hierarchical self-assembly of surfactant-encapsulated POMs have thus been thoroughly investigated. Meanwhile, the field of organic-inorganic POM hybrids has expanded and offers the opportunity to explore the covalent approach for the organization or immobilization of POMs. In this critical review, we focus on the use of POM hybrids in selected fields of applications such as catalysis, energy conversion and molecular nanosciences and we endeavor to discuss the impact of the covalent approach compared to the electrostatic one. The synthesis of organic-inorganic POM hybrids starting from bare POMs, that is the direct functionalization of POMs, is well documented and reliable and efficient synthetic procedures are available. However, as the complexity of the targeted functional system increases a multi-step strategy relying on the post-functionalization of preformed hybrid POM platforms could prove more appealing. In the second part of this review, we thus survey the synthetic methodologies of post-functionalization of POMs and critically discuss the opportunities it offers compared to direct functionalization.

Theoretical investigation of the mechanism of primary amines reacting with hexamolybdate: an insight into the organoimido functionalization and related reactions of polyoxometalates

The functionalization of polyoxometalates (POMs), especially with an amino group to yield organonitrogenous derivatives of POMs, is an efficient approach to the enrichment of their structures and the diversification of their properties for various applications. The mechanism for the formation of organonitrogenous-derivatized hexamolybdates was explored by investigating the monofunctionalization of the [Mo(6)O(19)](2-) ion with methylamine using the density functional theory (DFT) method. The calculations show that the direct imidoylization of hexamolybdate with methylamine is both kinetically and thermodynamically unfavorable. However, this imidoylization was found to take place readily in the presence of dimethylcarbodiimide (DMC), for which the free-energy barrier was calculated to be +32.5 kcal mol(-1) in acetonitrile. Moreover, various factors controlling the efficiency of the imidoylization were examined. The calculations show that [W(5)MoO(19)](2-) has a relatively lower reactivity than [Mo(6)O(19)](2-), and that the imidoylization of [W(6)O(19)](2-) is an unfavorable process. With respect to the effect of carbodiimides, it is found that the catalytic activity is directly proportional to the electron-withdrawing effects of the substituents. As to the reactivity of R-NH(2) , the computation results indicate that the free-energy barriers of the substitution reactions are linearly correlated with the basicity constants (pK(b)) of the amino groups. It is noteworthy that the introduction of the proton dramatically decreases the free-energy barrier of the imidoylization of [Mo(6)O(19)](2-) catalyzed by DMC to 24.3 kcal mol(-1) in acetonitrile.

Amphiphilic properties of dumbbell-shaped inorganic-organic-inorganic molecular hybrid materials in solution and at an interface

Five novel dumbbell-shaped polyoxometalate (POM)-based inorganic-organic-inorganic molecular hybrids are investigated both in polar solvents and at interfaces for potential amphiphilic properties, which are compared with those of conventional surfactants. These hybrids with the general formula {P(2)V(3)W(15)}(2)-bis(TRIS)-linker are formed by linking two Wells-Dawson-type clusters, [P(2)V(3)W(15)O(62)](9-), with different linear bis(TRIS) linker ligands between the two TRIS moieties. Laser light scattering (LLS) studies reveal the presence of self-assembled vesicular structures in water/acetone mixed solvents, and the vesicle size increases with increasing acetone content, suggesting a charge-regulated process. The elastic constants, which are used to calculate the bending energy during vesicle formation, reveal that the organic ligands play an important role in determining the self-assembly process and that the hybrids do demonstrate amphiphilic behavior at the water/air interface. Furthermore, it is shown that some of the hybrids form monolayers at the interface, with an average molecular area that can be correlated with their organic linkers, as determined from their π-A isotherms. Finally, the hybrids not only display amphiphilic behavior akin to that of a surfactant but also exhibit an unusually high entropy contribution to vesicle formation as a result of their unique large, polar head groups, complex organic linkers, and their special molecular architectures as well as because of the involvement of the amphiphilic tetrabutylammonium (TBA) counterions.

DMAP-catalyzed esterification of pentaerythritol-derivatized POMs: a new route for the functionalization of polyoxometalates

A pentaerythritol-derived hexavanadate can be easily esterified with acid anhydrides using DMAP as a catalyst, providing a convenient way for the functionalization of polyoxometalates.

Prediction of remarkably large second-order nonlinear optical properties of organoimido-substituted hexamolybdates

The dipole polarizabilities, dipole moments, density of states, and second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of organoimido derivatives of hexamolybdates have been investigated by using time-dependent density functional response theory. This class of organic-inorganic hybrid compounds possesses remarkably large and eye-catching molecular second-order NLO response, especially [Mo(6)O(17)(NC(16)H(12)NO(2))(FeNC(10)H(9))](2-) (7) and [Mo(6)O(17)(NC(16)H(12)NO(2))(NC(6)H(2)(NH(2))(3))](2-) (6) with static second-order polarizability (beta(vec)) computed to be 15766.27 x 10(-30) esu and 6299.59 x 10(-30) esu, respectively. Thus, these systems have the possibility to be excellent second-order nonlinear optical materials. Analysis of the major contributions to the beta(vec) value suggests that the charge transfer (CT) from polyanion to organic segment (D-A) along the z-axis plays the key role in NLO response; the polyanion acts as a donor (D) whereas organoimido acts as an acceptor (A) in all the studied systems. The computed beta(vec) values increase by incorporation of an electron acceptor (-NO(2)) at the end of the phenyl ring of the organoimido segment. Furthermore, substitution of amino (-NH(2)) or ferrocenyl (-FeC(10)H(9)) at the outer side of polyanion and an electron acceptor (-NO(2)) at the end of the phenyl ring in organoimido segment simultaneously is more important to enhance the optical nonlinearity. Orbital analysis shows that the degree of CT between the polyanion and organoimido segments was increased when ferrocenyl donor was introduced. The present investigation provides important insight into the remarkably large NLO properties of organoimido-substituted hexamolybdates.