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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Polyoxometalate-Based Molecular Materials.

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Molecule-based materials with active physical properties, in particular electrical, magnetic, and optical, are a focus of contemporary materials chemistry research. Certainly, one reason for this interest has been the realization that these materials can exhibit cooperative properties typically associated with the inorganic network solids, as for example metallic conduction or even superconductivity,1 ferromagnetism,2 and nonlinear optical properties.3 With respect to the electrical properties, many important achievements were obtained in the 1970s with the discovery of the first molecule-based metal in 1972,4 namely the π-electron donor-acceptor complex [TTF][TCNQ] (TTF ) tetrathiafulvalene, TCNQ ) tetracyano-p-quinodimethane),5 and the report of the first molecule-based superconductors in 1979 based on the Bechgaard salts [TMTSF]2X (X ) PF6, AsF6; TMTSF ) tetramethyltetraselenafulvalene).6 The recognition of molecule-based ferromagnetic compounds is more recent and has emerged only in the past decade with the discovery of the electron-transfer salt [Fe(C5Me5)2][TCNE] (TCNE ) tetracyanoethylene) in 1985.7 Since these pioneering studies, the two areassmolecule-based metals and magnetsshave witnessed rapid development, and many new molecules have been designed which, if assembled in the appropriate manner in the solid, will enable researchers to improve the physical properties by increasing superconducting and ferromagnetic critical temperatures. A current development in the general area of molecule-based materials is to design, from a wise choice of the constituent molecules, new materials that combine properties not normally associated with a single material. Some intriguing applications of this concept would be to couple conductivity or optical phenomena with magnetic properties. In fact, this challenging goal was proposed8 in the mid-1980s but has only recently begun to be explored. Efforts in this direction nucleated with the design of hybrid materials formed by two molecular networks, such as anion/cation salts or host/guest solids, where each network furnishes distinct physical properties. In these new types of materials, each network contributes distinct physical properties to the solid. Examples include hybrid molecule-based materials, combining inorganic metal complexes that act as structural or magnetic components with an organic π-electron donor or acceptor molecule that furnishes the pathway for electronic conductivity.9 Polyoxometalates have been found to be extremely versatile inorganic building blocks for the construction of the aforementioned functionally active solids.10 The present article highlights recent results and provides a perspective of the use of polyoxometalates in the construction of molecule-based materials. We present herein the different classes of polyoxometalate-based hybrid materials that are of considerable interest due to their electrical or/and magnetic properties. These are (i) organic/inorganic hybrid salts in which the electron donors are organic molecules of the TTF type, (ii) organometallic/inorganic salts in which the electron donor is the decamethylferrocene complex, and (iii) organic/inorganic films in 273 Chem. Rev. 1998, 98, 273−296