COMBINATORIALLY LINKABLE METAL-OXIDE BASED UNITS: PERSPECTIVES FOR NANO, SUPRAMOLECULAR, AND SOLID-STATE CHEMISTRY

摘要

Nature's evolution from the primordial earth to the present overwhelming variety of macroscopic forms and functionalities, the formation of which is directed by their molecular "counterparts", i.e. by biomolecules, stimulates thoughts about the potentiality of material systems in general and their related basic first principles. Especially processes that take place in reservoir systems containing appropriate building blocks can lead to a myriad of molecular forms including routes that employ symmetry breaking. This is in particular valid when we enter the nanocosmos size category. The nanocosmos as such does not pose restrictions like the variety-limiting translational symmetry of macroscopic crystalline materials, but offers - in contrast to the microcosmos, defined by its smaller molecular structures- the possibility of larger arrays with local symmetries that differ from the overall symmetry, thereby increasing the number of options for the generation of an extreme structural versatility - a situstion well known, e.g. for spherical viruses (Figure 1). These deliberation are relevant for a nanochemistry based on polyoxometalates, especially polyoxomolybdates under reducing conditions, which form an overwhelming variety of structures.