Chapter 4 - Jacobs University

Chapter 1
Introduction
[P 2 W 18 O 62 ] 6- by alkaline degradation in the presence of amine, according to Scheme I, [α 1 -
P 2 W 17 O 61 ] 10- and [H 7 P 8 W 48 O 184 ] 33- are formed concurrently.
Scheme I:
1.5 Applications
Polyoxometalate chemistry continues to attract attention due to their a potential
applications in diverse areas such as catalysis, magnetism, bio- and nanotechnology, medicine
and materials science. 2-9 Different applications for POMs are shown in Figure 1.9. In this section,
only the applications that might apply to the type of POMs in this thesis will be discussed.
1.5.1 Catalysis
The area where POMs have found the highest number of applications is in acidic and
oxidative catalysis, 46-56 due to their thermal stability, the reversibility of their redox reactions and
high acidity, properties that can be modified by changes in their composition. 57-59 POMs can be
considered as oxide fragments with a defined structure, therefore they constitute adequate
models for the identification of the active catalytic centers, the study of the substrate-catalyst
interactions, and the design of catalysts. 60,61
On the other hand, they can be used in
heterogeneous processes or in homogeneous face, directly or deposited in different type of
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