| dc.description.abstract | A particular type of organic-inorganic hybrid materials is represented by the metal organophosphonates in which phosphonate groups are bonded to the metal backbone. The metal phosphonates of general composition X[HO3PC4H8PO3H2], X[HO3PC5H10PO3H2 ], and X[HO3PC6H12PO3H2], where X = Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, have been synthesized by microwave reactions to study the effect of both the change in the size of the metal and the length of the ligand on the three-dimensional structure. Structural studies from single crystal X-ray diffraction data reveals that these compounds exhibit a 1:2 metal to phosphonate ratio, making them Brönsted acids. This 1:2 ratio is uncommon in metal diphosphonates but has been observed in a few other structures including the alkali metal ethylene1 and bipheneylenediphosphonates2. In the case of the alkali metal ethylene diphosphonates all structures were able to undergo acid-base intercalation with ammonia1. It is hoped that extending the length of the alkyl chain will afford increased porosity and thus resulting in increased ammonia intercalation. In addition, structural and other physical trends exhibited by these compounds can potentially be applied to future work on di- and tri-valent metal diphosphonates, which are more difficult to structurally characterize due to poor crystallization. | en |
