Orbital Engineering: Photoactivation of an Organofunctionalized Polyoxotungstate

Tungsten-based polyoxometalates (POMs) have been employed as UV-driven photo-catalysts for a range of organic transformations. Their photoactivity is dependent on electronic transitions between frontier orbitals and thus manipulation of orbital energy levels provides a promising means of extending their utility into the visible regime. Herein, an organic-inorganic hybrid polyoxometalate, K₆ [P₂ W₁₇ O₅₇ (PO₅ H₅ C₇ )₂ ]⋅6 C₄ H₉ NO, was found to exhibit enhanced redox behaviour and photochemistry compared to its purely inorganic counterparts. Hybridization with electron-withdrawing moieties was shown to tune the frontier orbital energy levels and reduce the HOMO-LUMO gap, leading to direct visible-light photoactivation of the hybrid and establishing a simple, cheap and effective approach to the generation of visible-light-activated hybrid nanomaterials.