Self-assembled molecular hybrids comprising lacunary polyoxometalates and multidentate imidazole ligands

Abstract

Self-assembly via coordination bonding facilitates the creation of diverse inorganic–organic molecular hybrids with distinct structures and properties. Recent advances in this field have been driven by the versatility of organic ligands and inorganic units. Lacunary polyoxometalates are a class of well-defined metal-oxide clusters with a customizable number of reactive sites and bond directions, which make them promising inorganic units for self-assembled molecular hybrids. Herein, we report a novel synthesis method for self-assembled molecular hybrids utilizing the reversible coordination of multidentate imidazole ligands to the vacant sites of lacunary polyoxometalates. We synthesized self-assembled molecular hybrids including monomer, dimers, and tetramer, demonstrating the potential of our method for constructing intricate hybrids with tailored properties and functionalities.