Synthesis and structural characterization of a dumbbell‐like phenylphosphonate‐stabilized Ti 7 –oxide cluster

In recent years, crystalline polyoxotitanium clusters (PTCs) have attracted increasing attention as a new kind of promising crystalline material. In this work, a PTC stabilized by phenylphosphonate ligands, i.e. hexa‐μ‐isopropanolato‐hexaisopropanolatodi‐μ 3 ‐oxido‐hexa‐μ 3 ‐phenylphosphonato‐heptatitanium tetrahydrate, [Ti 7 (μ 3 ‐O) 2 (O 3 P‐Phen) 6 (O i Pr) 12 ]·4H 2 O [ PTC‐54 ; H 2 O 3 P‐Phen is phenylphosphonic acid, C 6 H 5 PO(OH) 2 , and HO i Pr is isopropanol, C 3 H 7 OH], was obtained successfully through a facile one‐step solvothermal reaction. The dumbbell‐like core structure of PTC‐54 can be described as two trinuclear {Ti 3 (μ 3 ‐O)} building units combined together by six phenylphosphonate ligands and one additional Ti atom, giving rise to a Ti 7 cluster. Adjacent molecules of PTC‐54 are further connected through π–π interactions between the phenyl groups to form a supramolecular one‐dimensional chain.