Synthesis of a Novel, High Nuclearity Ce/V Cluster with an Unusual Structure

Samuel Klingenberg, Khalil A. Abboud, George Christou

University of Florida

Heterometallic Ce/M (M= Ti, V, Cr, Mn, etc) clusters have gained growing interest in many areas of the chemical community due to their potential applications as effective redox catalysts. With a four adjacent, easily accessible oxidation states and wide structural diversity, vanadium is a promising hetero-metal to couple to cerium. Bulk Ce/V-oxide catalysts exhibit high activity and selectivity in several industrially important reactions such as the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of short-chain alkanes. However, Ce/V heterometallic clusters are under-explored, with only a few reported clusters in literature such as Ce₂V₁₂ and Ce₁₂V₆. In this presentation will be described a simple one-pot synthetic route to a novel, high nuclearity Ce/V molecular cluster and the extremely unusual structure that it possesses.