At the frontier of inorganic and organic chemistry lies the exciting field of hybrid materials. For the last 20 years this field has yielded a wide array of new materials that combine organic polymer hosts with inorganic guests to give materials with improved properties. These materials bridge the gap between the properties of the precursor materials and can be tailored to exhibit the best of both moieties. Our research lab has synthesized and characterized a pyrazolato based octanuclear iron cluster (Fe8) with the chemical formula: [FeIII8(μ-4-R-pz)12X4]; where the R group can be H, I, Br, Cl, Me, Et, N3, CH2CH2OH, etc. and the X can be Cl, Br, -NCS and -OAr. This substitutional flexibility results in a powerful synthetic strategy for the functionalization of the motif, including the incorporation of the cluster into a polymeric matrix. In addition to the functionalization versatility, Fe8 exhibits remarkable properties of which its electrochemistry stands out with up to 4 reversible electron processes. For the preparation of Fe8 based hybrid materials we took advantage of the Fe8-cluster’s ability to be substituted by phenols and reacted it with poly-4-vinylphenol (PVPOH). PVPOH has been used for various applications including gate dielectrics and synthesis of co-polymer blends. When reacted with Fe8, a green solution is obtained that can be casted into thin films. This new material was probed with the spectroscopic techniques used to characterized Fe8 and confirmation of phenol coordination was found as well as evidence for the retention of the structural integrity of the cluster. UV-vis shows a band attributed to the phenol-Fe coordination, and Mossbauer spectroscopy shows the expected two doublets for the octanuclear motif but the quadrupole splitting of the outer doublet has increased as expected for a phenol coordinated Fe8. Morphological studies were carried out using a HR-TEM and the electrochemical properties of the hybrid material was assessed and found that it retained the 4 electron redox processes of the inorganic motif. Other characterization includes FT-IR, NMR and TGA. The resulting material falls unto the class-II hybrid materials classification and represents an improved material that has the casting properties of the organic polymer, but also retains the electrochemical properties of the inorganic cluster.

Preparation and characterization of a new organic-inorganic hybrid material with synergistically combined properties

255th National Meeting (2018)

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