Reaction Pathway to the Only Open-Shell Transition-Metal Keggin Ion without Organic Ligation: Reaction Pathway to the Only Open-Shell Transition-Metal Keggin Ion without Organic Ligation
Aqueous metal-oxo clusters without organic ligands (including polyoxometalates and group 13 polycations) are useful for energy, environmental and biomolecular applications. While ligands stabilize clusters of different elements, such as open-shell transition metals, they inhibit reactivity and solubility. Therefore a grand challenge is to conceive and execute synthetic strategies to isolate metal-oxo clusters of any composition, without ligation. Here we crystallize and structurally characterize a Cr 3+ dodecamer Keggin ion without organic ligation. Detailed characterization of its formation leads to understanding its reaction pathway, which may translate to isolation of other open-shell transition metal-oxo clusters. We employed electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray scattering (small-angle and total) to identify important reaction intermediates and processes. The aqueous synthesis presented here is simple to implement and scalable, producing pure phase materials in gram quantities.