Encapsulation of H 4 PVMo 11 O 40 (1-vanado-11-molybdophosphoric acid) inside silica provided a single-site long-lived pervanadyl cation (VO 2 + ) for oxidation reactions. Protective silica residues allowed vanadium to sit in the secondary Keggin structure without being reduced, contrasting the classical situation for H 4 PVMo 11 O 40 supported on silica. The vanadium of this Keggin molecule is "frivolous", tending to exit the primary structure, with one-electron reduction, even during efflorescence under ambient conditions. Hydrated crystals circumvented this problem, allowing high resolution 51 V MAS NMR conditions and the first quadrupolar and chemical shift anisotropy interaction parameters for this intact Keggin.
IntroductionPolyoxometalates (POM's) are nano-sized metal-oxygen cluster anions that self-assemble in aqueous solution. Heteropolyacids, or POM's in the acid form, are widely used to catalyze selective oxidation reactions under homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions. 1-7 Their acidbase and redox properties are finely altered by varying the chemical composition. The most stable POM's have the highly studied Keggin structure. 8 H 4 PVMo 11 O 40 ·xH 2 O is a more active oxidation catalyst than its fully molybdenum analogue (H 3 PMo 12 O 40 ), 4, 5, 9 yet its mode of action is less well understood. This work describes an interesting aspect of chemical behavior for PVMo 11 . POM formulas are abbreviated denoting only the central phosphorus and addenda metal atoms.One major obstacle in using POM's as heterogeneous catalysts is "containing" them in active form on a solid support with high surface area. Conventional wet impregnation on silica (i.e. POM-on-silica) does not provide a highly dispersed active phase with the desired "site isolation" effect. 10, 11 Far more stable and active catalysts are produced by sol-gel encapsulation methods 12 , where a "silica bottle" is built around a "POM ship". 13 Hydro-silanes, derived from silicon alkoxide precursors (e.g. TEOS, tetraethoxysilane), condense around the pre-formed POM to give "POM-in-silica". Preponderant examples exist for PW 12 -in-silica 5,14-19 , followed by PMo 12 20 , SiW 12 21, 22 and GeV 2 W 10 23 encapsulated inside silica. As we show here, little known PVMo 11 -in-silica 24,25, 26 has special properties. In addition to PVMo 11 -in-silica, more hydrophobic catalysts PVMo 11 -in-organosilica (Rsilica), with admixtures of MTOS (methyltriethoxysilane) or DDOS (dimethyldiethoxysilane) and TEOS, were also prepared and examined. The structures of these new catalysts, active in aerobic mercaptans oxidation 26 , are analyzed by multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy. A technique deemed more effective than IR and Raman for discriminating the molecular species under consideration, especially under hydrated conditions. 27 However, an NMR approach ( 31 P, 51 V) has two shortcomings: 1) poor discrimination of species by 31 P chemical shift and 2) paramagnetic broadening affects from reduced (tetravalent) vanadium nuclei.Another, more intrinsic, obstacle exists fo...