Surfactants and membrane lipids readily assemble into complex structures such as micelles, liposomes or hollow vesicles owing to their amphiphilic character-the fact that part of their structure is attracted to polar environments while another part is attracted to non-polar environments. The self-assembly of complex structures also occurs in polyoxometallate chemistry, as exemplified by the molybdenum blue solutions known for centuries. But while the presence of nanometre-sized metal oxide aggregates in these solutions has long been recognized, unravelling the composition and formation process of these aggregates proved difficult. Recent work has indicated that discrete, wheel-shaped mixed-valence polyoxomolybdate clusters of the type [Mo154] (refs 2-4) assemble into well-defined nanometre-sized aggregates, including spherical structures. Here we report light-scattering data and transmission electron microscopy images of hollow spherical structures with an average, almost monodisperse radius of about 45 nm and composed of approximately 1,165 [Mo154] wheel-shaped clusters. The clusters appear to lie flat and homogeneously distributed on the vesicle surface. Unlike conventional lipid vesicles, the structures we observe are not stabilized by hydrophobic interactions. Instead, we believe the polyoxomolybdate-based vesicles form owing to a subtle interplay between short-range van der Waals attraction and long-range electrostatic repulsion, with important further stabilization arising from hydrogen bonding involving water molecules encapsulated between the wheel-shaped clusters and in the vesicles' interior.

In their highest oxidation states the early transition metals V, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, and Re form tetrahedral, strongly colored thioanions endowed with some remarkable properties. Thiometalates can be formed by solid-state reactions or in solution from the oxometalates. Polythiometalates with mixed valences can be produced by new types of intramolecular condensation-redox reactions from thioanions. The metal-sulfur bonds can react either nucleophilically or electrophilically, and in the case of the Mo-S bonds this is of biochemical interest. It is important to mention the applications of thiometalates as ligands in complex chemistry (generation of multi-metal complexes, versatile coordination behavior, unique electronic properties of the ligands), in which thiometalato complexes with a variety of electron populations can exist because of the marked electron delocalization. Apart from this, MoSihas a significance in bioinorganic problems, e.g. the nitrogenase problem and Cu-Mo antagonism. 0 Verlag Chemie GmbH. 6940 Weinheim, 057O-0833/81/1111-0934 $02.50/0 Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 20, 934-955 (1981) [*' I Microbial Degradation of Chlorinated Arenes, Part 7.-Part 6: [2c]. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 20 (1981) No. I 1 0 Verlag Chemie GrnbH, 6940 Weinheirn. I981 0570-0833/81/II11-0955 $ 02.50/0

Complex clusters the size of small proteins can be generated in reduced molybdate solutions by linking defined fragments. An example of this is the giant cluster (NH4)25±5[Mo154(NO)14O420(OH)28(H2O)70]·ca. 350 H2O with a molar mass of more than 30000 gmol−1, the anion of which is shaped like a tire with a nanodimensional cavity more than 20 Å in diameter and has an extremely large inner and outer surface as well as a large number of mobile electrons.

The solution behavior of the largest inorganic acid known thus far, the neutral, spherical iron/molybdenum/oxide nanocluster {Mo72Fe30} ([triple bond{(MoVI) MoVI5}12FeIII30 1a), including the pH-controlled deprotonation, is reported. The acidic properties are due to the 30 peripheral, weakly acidic FeIII(H2O) groups that form a unique Archimedean solid with all edges and dihedral angles being equal, the icosidodecahedron, and therefore an "isotropic" surface. Interestingly, the aqueous solutions are stable even for months because of the inertness of the spherical solutes and the presence of the hard FeIII and MoVI centers. The stability can be nicely proven by the very characteristic Raman spectrum showing, because of the (approximately) icosahedral symmetry, only a few lines. Whereas the {Mo72Fe30} clusters exist as discrete, almost neutral, molecules in aqueous solution at pH< 2.9, they get deprotonated and self-associate into single-layer blackberry-type structures at higher pH while the assembly process (i.e., the size of the final species) can be controlled by the pH values; this allows the deliberate generation of differently sized nanoparticles, a long-term goal in nanoscience. The average hydrodynamic radius (Rh) of the self-assembled structures decreases monotonically with increasing number of charges on the {Mo72Fe30} macroanions (from approximately 45 nm at pH approximately 3.0 to approximately 15 nm at pH approximately 6.6), as studied by laser light scattering and TEM techniques. The {Mo72Fe30} macroions with high-stability tunable charges/surfaces, equal shape, and masses provide models for the understanding of more complex polyelectrolyte solutions while the controllable association and dissociation reported here of the assembled soft magnetic materials with tuneable sizes could be interesting for practical applications.