An electrochemical investigation of the electrodeposition of non-intact tri-nuclear clusters on platinum working electrodes

The goal of this research was to study the electrochemical behavior of tri-nuclear clusters of molybdenum and tungsten - first in the ionic liquid EMIBF4, and then in the polar-aprotic solvent DMSO. Four tri-nuclear cluster compounds were studied: Hexa-μ2-acetatotriaquadi-μ3-oxotrimolybdenum (IV, IV, IV) trifluoromethanesulfonate [Mo₃O₂(O₂CCH₃)₆(H₂O)₃](CF₃SO₃)₂, Hexa-μ2-acetatotriaquadi-μ3-oxodimolybdenum (IV, IV) tungsten (IV) trifluoromethanesulfonate [Mo₂WO₂(O₂CCH₃)₆(H₂O)₃](CF₃SO₃)₂, Hexa-μ2-acetatotriaquadi-μ3-oxomolybdenum (IV) ditungsten (IV, IV) trifluoromethanesulfonate [MoW₂O₂(O₂CCH₃)₆(H₂O)₃](CF₃SO₃)₂, and Hexa-μ2-acetatotriaquadi-μ3-oxotritungsten (IV, IV, IV) trifluoromethanesulfonate [W₃O₂(O₂CCH₃)₆(H₂O)₃](CF₃SO₃)₂. All information gathered from CV data on tri-nuclear clusters will be discussed. The study of the electrodeposition efforts with molybdenum- and tungsten-based tri-nuclear clusters onto Pt electrodes in EMIBF4, and DMSO, will be compared to past investigations by Katovic et al. In addition, the electrochemical properties of these four trinuclear clusters in the DMSO-based solvent system were explored and are novel findings.