Phosphonate-substituted zirconium oxo clusters

Many phosphonate-substituted zirconium compounds with 1D, layered 2D, and 3D interconnected structures have been reported [ 1 – 3 ], including coordination polymers with bis- or tetra-phosphonate ligands [ 4 – 11 ]. Surprisingly, no zirconium oxo clusters with phosphonate ligands are known, although zirconium oxo clusters with a variety of other bi- or multidentate ligands have been prepared and zirconia nanoparticles are frequently stabilized by phosphonate groups [ 12 , 13 ]. In this article, we report the preparation and structural characterization of the first phosphonate-substituted zirconium oxo clusters.