Covalency in Metal–Oxygen Multiple Bonds Evaluated Using Oxygen K-edge Spectroscopy and Electronic Structure Theory

Advancing theories of how metal–oxygen bonding influences metal oxo properties can expose new avenues for innovation in materials science, catalysis, and biochemistry. Historically, spectroscopic analyses of the transition metal MO4x– anions have formed the basis for new M–O bonding theories. Herein, relative changes in M–O orbital mixing in MO42– (M = Cr, Mo, W) and MO4– (M = Mn, Tc, Re) are evaluated for the first time by nonresonant inelastic X-ray scattering, X-ray absorption spectroscopy using fluorescence and transmission (via a scanning transmission X-ray microscope), and time-dependent density functional theory. The results suggest that moving from Group 6 to Group 7 or down the triads increases M–O e* (π*) mixing; for example, it more than doubles in ReO4– relative to CrO42–. Mixing in the t2* orbitals (σ* + π*) remains relatively constant within the same Group, but increases on moving from Group 6 to Group 7. These unexpected changes in orbital energy and composition for formally isoelectronic tetraoxometalates are evaluated in terms of periodic trends in d orbital energy and radial extension.