Uranyl Peroxide Capsule Self-assembly in Slow Motion Ana Arteaga,1 Lei Zhang,2 Sarah Hickam,2 Mateusz Dembowski,2,3 Peter C. Burns 2 and May Nyman1

Uranyl-peroxide capsules are the newest family of polyoxometalates. Although discovered 13 years prior with over 70 topologies reported, we lack fundamental understanding of assembly mechanisms, particularly the role of the alkali countercations. Herein, we report the reaction pathway and assembly o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemistry : a European journal 2019-03, Vol.25 (24)
Main Authors: Arteaga, Ana, Zhang, Lei, Hickam, Sarah, Dembowski, Mateusz, Burns, Peter, Nyman, May
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calorimetry
crystal structure
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
Polyoxometalates
RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
uranyl
X-ray scattering
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Uranyl-peroxide capsules are the newest family of polyoxometalates. Although discovered 13 years prior with over 70 topologies reported, we lack fundamental understanding of assembly mechanisms, particularly the role of the alkali countercations. Herein, we report the reaction pathway and assembly of uranyl peroxide capsules by tracking the conversion from K+ uranyl triperoxide monomer to the K+ uranyl-peroxide U28 capsule via Small Angle X-Ray Scattering and Raman Spectroscopy. For the first time, the K+ uranyl-peroxide pentamer face is isolated and structurally characterized, giving credence to the long-held belief that these geometric faces serve as building blocks to the fully formed capsules. Once isolated and redissolved, the pentamer face undergoes rapid conversion to capsule forms, underlining its high reactivity that challenges its isolation. Calorimetric measurements of the studied species confirms the pentamer lies on the energy landscape between the monomer and capsule.
ISSN:0947-6539
1521-3765