This project is in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program. A long-range goal of the project is to unify the solid-state and solution chemistries of metal oxides, which have traditionally been treated as independent research areas. The project is concerned specifically with transferring chemistry usually associated with solid oxides to the solution state through the investigation of soluble polyoxoanions and organometal oxides, and transferring chemistry usually associated with inorganic complexes in solution to the solid state through the synthesis and study of solid oxide supported organic and organometallic complexes. In the first area, specific objectives include the selective oxidation of organic molecules in solution by polyoxoanions, the synthesis of polyoxoanion-supported metal clusters, the determination of surface protonation sites in complex isopolyoxoanions, and the photochemical oxidation of organic molecules by polyoxoanions. In the latter area, techniques developed for the synthesis of clathrasils and zeosils will be extended to the synthesis of crystalline silica-supported organic and organometallic complexes. The results are expected to be useful in the design of better catalysts for oxidation of organic compounds and in the rational synthesis of oxidic materials with predetermined chemical and physical properties.
