Structural and thermal stability studies of Ti(IV) hexanuclear oxo trimethylacetato isopropoxide complex

A new titanium hexanuclear oxo carboxylato alkoxide complex, with the general formula [Ti6O6(OPri)6(OOCBut)6] (1), has been synthesized in a reaction of titanium isopropoxide (Ti(OPri)4) with ButCOOH in the ratio 1:1. The structure was analyzed with the elemental analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray single-crystal diffraction methods. Crystal structure of 1 was solved in the trigonal centrosymmetric system . Titanium atoms form the hexanuclear cluster, where three μ3-oxo, two μ-carboxylato bridges and the terminal alkoxide ligand, in the distorted octahedron, surround each central cation. Analysis of spectroscopic data revealed a significant nonequivalence of interactions formed by the carboxylate groups, resulting from the asymmetry of Ti-μ-OOC bonds of carboxylate bridges in the complex molecule. TGA and MS studies suggest that volatile, titanium hexanuclear species may be formed between 423 and 553 K.