Titanium(IV) Oxo-Complex with Acetylsalicylic Acid Ligand and Its Polymer Composites: Synthesis, Structure, Spectroscopic Characterization, and Photocatalytic Activity

The titanium oxo complexes are widely studied, due to their potential applications in photocatalytic processes, environmental protection, and also in the biomedical field. The presented results concern the oxo complex synthesized in the reaction of titanium(IV) isobutoxide and acetylsalicylic acid (Hasp), in a 4:1 molar ratio. The structure of isolated crystals was solved using the single-crystal X-ray diffraction method. The analysis of these data proves that [Ti4O2((OBu)-Bu-i)(10)(asp)(2)]center dot H2O (1) complex is formed. Moreover, the molecular structure of (1) was characterized using vibrational spectroscopic techniques (IR and Raman), C-13 NMR, and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized complex was determined with the use of composite foils produced by the dispersion of (1) micrograins, as the inorganic blocks, in a polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix (PCL + (1)). The introduction of (1) micrograins to the PCL matrix caused the absorption maximum shift up to 425-450 nm. The studied PCL + (1) composite samples reveal good activity toward photodecolorization of methylene blue after visible light irradiation.

Automated summary

In this study, a titanium oxo complex was synthesized and its structure was characterized using various experimental techniques. It was found that the synthesized complex exhibited good photocatalytic activity.