Large cation-anion materials based on trinuclear ruthenium(III) salts of Keggin and Wells-Dawson anions having water-filled channels.

Reaction of the trinuclear ruthenium(III) cation [Ru(3)O(OOCCH(3))(6)(CH(3)OH)(3)](+) with the Keggin-type [alpha-GeW(11)O(39)](8-), [alpha-SiW(11)O(39)](8-), and [alpha-SiMo(12)O(40)](4-) and the Wells-Dawson-type [alpha-P(2)W(18)O(62)](6-) polyanions in an aqueous, acidic medium resulted in plenary polyoxometalate-based materials K(2)Na[Ru(3)O(OOCCH(3))(6)(H(2)O)(3)][alpha-GeW(12)O(40)].10H(2)O (1), K(3)[Ru(3)O(OOCCH(3))(6)(H(2)O)(3)][alpha-SiW(12)O(40)].18H(2)O (2), K(3)[Ru(3)O(OOCCH(3))(6)(H(2)O)(3)][alpha-SiMo(12)O(40)].7H(2)O (3), and K(2)Na[Ru(3)O(OOCCH(3))(6)(H(2)O)(3)](3)[alpha-P(2)W(18)O(62)].26H(2)O (4), respectively. All four materials, 1-4, crystallize as sodium and/or potassium salts in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n. Compounds 1-4 were characterized by IR, thermogravimetric analysis, and single-crystal/powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The isolated solid-state frameworks, composed of cocrystallized trinuclear ruthenium cations and polyanions, exhibit nanosized voids filled with crystal waters. These water molecules can be removed reversibly upon heating under a vacuum, and powder XRD measurements demonstrated that the crystallinity of the compound was preserved. Sorption studies on ethanol and methanol were also performed.