A Vanadium Chalcogenide Dicubane. Issue 1 (9th December 2015) - Li, Tianyang
Abstract: The discovery of novel transition metal cubane clusters with different electron counts and topologies is of considerable importance due to the prevalence of this structure type in catalytic proteins. Here, we report the solvothermal synthesis and full characterization of [V7 S8 Cl2 ( en )8 ]Cl4 ( en = ethylenediamine), the first early transition metal dicubane cluster. Electron paramagnetic resonance and magnetic susceptibility measurements show that the cluster has one unpaired electron localized on a single V 4+, which according to DFT simulations is the central bridging vanadium. The remaining V 3+ atoms feature significant metal–metal bonding. Abstract : Cubed squared: An unprecedented early transition metal dicubane cluster, bearing topological similarity to biologically relevant active centers, has been realized with vanadium and sulfur. An unpaired electron is localized on a central vanadium atom, while distal vanadiums exhibit extensive metal–metal bonding.