Convenient synthesis of aluminum and gallium phosphonate cages.

The reactions of AlCl 3.6H 2O and GaCl 3 with 2-pyridylphosphonic acid (2PypoH 2) and 4-pyridylphosphonic acid (4PypoH 2) afford cyclic aluminum and gallium phosphonate structures of [(2PypoH) 4Al 4(OH 2) 12]Cl 8.6H 2O ( 1), [(4PypoH) 4Al 4(OH 2) 12]Cl 8.11H 2O ( 2), [(2PypoH) 4Al 4(OH 2) 12](NO 3) 8.7H 2O ( 3), [(2PypoH) 2(2Pypo) 4Ga 8Cl 12(OH 2) 4(thf) 2](GaCl 4) 2..8thf ( 4), and [(2PypoH) 2(2Pypo) 4Ga 8Cl 12(OH 2) 4(thf) 2](NO 3) 2.9thf ( 5). Structures 1- 3 feature four aluminum atoms bridged by oxygen atoms from the phosphonate moiety and show structural resemblance to the secondary building units found in zeolites and aluminum phosphates. The gallium complexes, 4 and 5, have eight gallium atoms bridged by phosphonate moieties with two GaCl 4 (-) counterions present in 4 and nitrate ions in 5. The cage structures 1- 3 are interlinked by strong hydrogen bonds, forming polymeric chains that, for aluminum, are thermally robust. Exchange of the phosphonic acid for the more flexible 4PyCH 2PO 3H 2 afforded a coordination polymer with a 1:1 Ga:P ratio, {[(4PyCH 2PO 3H)Ga(OH 2) 3](NO 3) 2.0.5H 2O} x ( 6). Complexes 1- 6 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, NMR, and mass spectrometry and studied by TGA.