Solid State Coordination Chemistry of Hybrid Oxide Materials

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Dr. Jon Zubieta, Chemistry Department, Syracuse University, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program of the Chemistry Division for research into the solid state coordination chemistry of hybrid oxide materials. The project will focus on the controlled synthesis of metastable but persistent extended oxide structures that are formed through the use of organic components as structure-directing building blocks. The research focuses on broadly related classes of oxide solids: (i) materials characterized by M/P/O (M=V or Mo) inorganic skeletons and (ii) phases with V/O or Mo/O inorganic skeletons. In both cases secondary metal-ligand complexes or subunits will be incorporated as charge-balancing and structure-directing constituents. The synthetic approach involves low temperature self-assembly of polyamine ligands, "secondary" metal cations, and the inorganic oxide sources in hydrothermal media. The structures of the resulting materials will be determined and methods to control their structure-property relationships will be developed. Presently, methods for the rational synthesis of two or three dimensional solid state materials are nearly absent. This is a problem because the synthesis of extended structures must be mastered in order to realize the objectives of advanced materials science and nanotechnology, which include creating materials for catalysis, quantum electronics, optics, photonics, chemoselective sensing, and solar energy conversion among others. The occurrence of complex inorganic oxides in the geosphere and the biosphere suggests that Nature may provide useful guidelines for the preparation of synthetic phases and for the modification of oxide microstructures. Thus, a powerful approach to the design of novel oxide materials mimics Nature's use of organic molecules to modify inorganic architectures. This project will use selected "molecular building blocks," which include organic compounds known to direct the structure of metal complexes, to develop a "Tinker Toy" methodology for preparing new materials. In addition to the potential fundamental and practical implications of the research, the activities will impact broadly on the training of graduate students, postdoctoral associates and sabbatical fellows, in the promoting of collaborative programs, and in the development of course work, tutorials and presentations for various levels of expertise and interest.