Effect of metal ion hydration on the interaction between sodium carboxylates and aluminum(III) or chromium(III) ions in aqueous solution

MOFs as Versatile Catalysts: Synthesis Strategies and Applications in Value-Added Compound Production

Catalysts played a crucial role in advancing modern human civilization, from ancient times to the industrial revolution. Due to high cost and limited availability of traditional catalysts, there is a need to develop cost-effective, high-activity, and nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as an ideal candidate for heterogeneous catalysis due to their physicochemical properties, hybrid inorganic/organic structures, uncoordinated metal sites, and accessible organic sections. MOFs are high nanoporous crystalline materials that can be used as catalysts to facilitate polymerization reactions. Their chemical and structural diversity make them effective for various reactions compared to traditional catalysts. MOFs have been applied in gas storage and separation, ion-exchange, drug delivery, luminescence, sensing, nanofilters, water purification, and catalysis. The review focuses on MOF-enabled heterogeneous catalysis for value-added compound production, including alcohol oxidation, olefin oligomerization, and polymerization reactions. MOFs offer tunable porosity, high spatial density, and single-crystal XRD control over catalyst properties. In this review, MOFs were focused on reactions of CO2 fixation, CO2 reduction, and photoelectrochemical water splitting. Overall, MOFs have great potential as versatile catalysts for diverse applications in the future.

Self-assembled systems of water soluble metal 8-hydroxyquinolates with surfactants and conjugated polyelectrolytes

We have studied the interaction of 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate (8-HQS) with the metal ions Al(iii) and Zn(ii) in aqueous solution in the presence of tetraalkylammonium surfactants using UV/vis absorption, fluorescence, NMR spectroscopy and electrical conductivity measurements, complemented by DFT calculations and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Under appropriate conditions, complexes between 8-HQS and metal ions form rapidly, and have similar electronic, spectroscopic and photophysical properties to the corresponding metal quinolates, such as Alq3. These interact with the cationic surfactants, leading to marked increases in fluorescence intensity. However, significant differences are seen in the behavior of the two metal ions. With aluminium, a stable [Al(8-QS)3](3-) anion is formed, and interacts, predominantly through electrostatic interactions, with the surfactant, without disrupting the metal ion coordination sphere. In contrast, with Zn(ii), there is a competition between the metal ion and surfactants in the interaction with 8-HQS, although the [Zn(8-QS)2(H2O)2](2-) species is stable at appropriate pH and surfactant concentration. The studies are extended to systems with the conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) poly-(9,9-bis(6-N,N,N-trimethylammonium)hexyl)-fluorene-phenylene bromide (HTMA-PFP), which has a similar alkylammonium chain to the surfactants. Mixing metal salt, 8-HQS and HTMA-PFP in the presence of a nonionic surfactant leads to the formation of a metal complex/CPE supramolecular assembly between the conjugated polyelectrolyte and the metal/8-HQS complex, as demonstrated by electronic energy transfer. The potential of these systems in sensing, light harvesting, and electron injection/transport layers in organic semiconductor devices is discussed.

Interactions of Divalent and Trivalent Metal Counterions with Anionic Sulfonate Gemini Surfactant and Induced Aggregate Transitions in Aqueous Solution

Interactions of multivalent metal counterions with anionic sulfonate gemini surfactant 1,3-bis(N-dodecyl-N-propanesulfonate sodium)-propane (C12C3C12(SO3)2) and the induced aggregate transitions in aqueous solution have been studied. Divalent metal ions Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Mn(2+), Co(2+), and Ni(2+) and trivalent metal ions Al(3+), Fe(3+), and Cr(3+) were chosen. The results indicate that the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of C12C3C12(SO3)2 is greatly reduced by the ions, and the aggregate morphologies of C12C3C12(SO3)2 are adjusted by changing the nature and molar ratio of the metal ions. These metal ions can be classified into four groups because the ions in each group have very similar interaction mechanisms with C12C3C12(SO3)2: (I) Cu(2+) and Zn(2+); (II) Ca(2+), Mn(2+) and Mg(2+); (III) Ni(2+) and Co(2+); and (IV) Cr(3+), Al(3+) and Fe(3+). Cu(2+), Mg(2+), Ni(2+), and Al(3+) then were selected as representatives for each group to further study their interaction with C12C3C12(SO3)2. C12C3C12(SO3)2 interacts with the multivalent metal ions by electrostatic interaction and coordination interaction. C12C3C12(SO3)2 forms prolate micelles and plate-like micelles with Cu(2+), vesicles and wormlike micelles with Al(3+) or Ni(2+), and viscous three-dimensional network structure with Mg(2+). Moreover, precipitation does not take place in aqueous solution even at a high ion/surfactant ratio. The related mechanisms have been discussed. The present work provides guidance on how to apply the anionic surfactant into the solutions containing the multivalent metal ions, and those aggregates may have potential usage in separating heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions.

Synthesis, structure, and spectral and electrochemical properties of chromium(iii) tris-(8-hydroxyquinolinate)

Having the HOMO of chromium(iii) tris-(8-hydroxyquinolinate) mainly on metal 3d orbitals and the LUMO on the ligand leads to increased electrochemical stability.

Ion specific effects in trivalent counterion induced surface and solution self-assembly of the anionic surfactant sodium polyethylene glycol monododecyl ether sulfate

The effect of different trivalent counterions, Al(3+), Cr(3+), Sc(3+), Gd(3+), and La(3+), on the surface adsorption and Al(3+), Cr(3+), and Sc(3+) for solution self-assembly of the anionic surfactant sodium polyethylene glycol monododecyl ether sulfate has been studied by neutron reflectivity and small angle neutron scattering. The strong binding and complexation between the trivalent counterions and the anionic surfactant result in significant micellar growth and the formation of surface multilayer structures at the air-water interface at relatively low counterion concentrations. Broadly similar surface and solution behaviors are observed for the different trivalent counterions. The evolution in the surface and solution structures in detail depends upon the nature of the counterion, its hydrated radius and its strength of binding. Exceptionally the addition of Cr(3+) counterions have a less pronounced effect. This is attributed to a greater reluctance for exchange within the primary hydration shell for Cr(3+) ions, which results in a shielding of the electrostatic interactions and a reduced surfactant-counterion binding.

The formation of host-guest complexes between surfactants and cyclodextrins

Cyclodextrins are able to act as host molecules in supramolecular chemistry with applications ranging from pharmaceutics to detergency. Among guest molecules surfactants play an important role with both fundamental and practical applications. The formation of cyclodextrin/surfactant host-guest compounds leads to an increase in the critical micelle concentration and in the solubility of surfactants. The possibility of changing the balance between several intermolecular forces, and thus allowing the study of, e.g., dehydration and steric hindrance effects upon association, makes surfactants ideal guest molecules for fundamental studies. Therefore, these systems allow for obtaining a deep insight into the host-guest association mechanism. In this paper, we review the influence on the thermodynamic properties of CD-surfactant association by highlighting the effect of different surfactant architectures (single tail, double-tailed, gemini and bolaform), with special emphasis on cationic surfactants. This is complemented with an assessment of the most common analytical techniques used to follow the association process. The applied methods for computation of the association stoichiometry and stability constants are also reviewed and discussed; this is an important point since there are significant discrepancies and scattered data for similar systems in the literature. In general, the surfactant-cyclodextrin association is treated without reference to the kinetics of the process. However, there are several examples where the kinetics of the process can be investigated, in particular those where volumes of the CD cavity and surfactant (either the tail or in special cases the head group) are similar in magnitude. This will also be critically reviewed.

Does cation dehydration drive the binding of metal ions to polyelectrolytes in water? What we can learn from the behaviour of aluminium(III) and chromium(III)

Much stronger binding is seen in aqueous solutions between the anionic polyelectrolyte potassium poly(vinyl sulfate) and the substitution labile aluminium(III) than with the kinetically inert chromium(III). This strongly supports the idea that entropy driven water loss from the hydration sphere of the metal ion plays a major role in driving binding of the trivalent metal ion to the polyelectrolyte.