Water-Soluble Pentagonal-Prismatic Titanium-Oxo Clusters

By using solubility
control to crystallize the prenucleation clusters
of hydrosol, a family of titanium-oxo clusters possessing the {Ti18O27} core in which the 18 Ti­(IV)-ions are uniquely
connected with μ-oxo ligands into a triple-decked pentagonal
prism was obtained. The cluster cores are wrapped by external sulfate
and aqua ligands, showing good solubilities and stabilities in a variety
of solvents including acetonitrile and water and allowing their solution
chemistry being studied by means of electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy, 17O NMR, and vibrational spectroscopy. Furthermore, this study
provides new titanium oxide candidates for surface modifications and
homogeneous photocatalysis.