A family of germanates constructed from Ge7 clusters co-templated by metal complexes and organic/inorganic species†
Abstract
A series of germanates, [Ni(DETA)2]2·Cl·[Ge7O13(OH)2F3] (DETA = diethylenetriamine, JLG-3), [Ni(1,2-PDA)3]·[Ge7O14F2(OC2NH7)]·0.5H2O (1,2-PDA = 1,2-propanediamine, JLG-6), [Ni2(TETA)3]0.5·[Ge7O14F2(OC2NH7)]·H2O (TETA = triethylenetetramine, JLG-7), and |(NH3CH2CH2OH)2|[Ni2(TEPA)2(en)][Ge7O14F3]2·H2O (en = ethylenediamine, TEPA = tetraethylenepentamine, JLG-8), have been synthesized. All these compounds are co-templated by metal complexes and organic/inorganic species in a solvothermal system. Their structures are built up from Ge7X19 (Ge7, X = –O, –OH, –F or –OC2NH7) clusters connected in two different modes: T2 linkage mode to form the 1-D chain-like structure JLG-3 and T4 linkage mode to form 2-D layered structures JLG-n (n = 6, 7, 8). It is interesting to note that all of the layers of JLG-n (n = 6, 7, 8) are composed of a pair of chains, which can be found separately in the structure of JLG-3. Considering such chains or layers as SBUs, we can design numerous hypothetical 2-D layered and 3-D open-framework germanates based on the concept of “Scale Chemistry”.