Structure and surface reactivity of transition-metal-oxo-organo clusters:: contribution of liquid-and solid-state NMR to the characterization of the cluster Ti16O16(OEt)32

Nano-building blocks, as metal-oxo-alkoxo clusters, defined as perfectly calibrated nanometric species, are good models for spectroscopic studies and good candidates for elaboration, by soft chemistry processes, of hybrid organic-inorganic materials. We focus our work on the cluster Ti16O16(OEt)(32) and its reactivity against propyl alcohol. A better understanding of the surface reactivity allows the elaboration optimisation of hybrid materials by a better control of the hybrid interface. The use of high-resolution liquid (COSY, HMQC) and solid-state (Cross Polarization, MAS) NMR spectroscopies will be described, in order to characterize properly the surface organic groups. (C) 2004 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.