Anionic metal oxide clusters, so-called polyoxometalates, can be developed as molecular model compounds to mimic the chemical and photochemical reactivity of solid-state metal oxides on the molecular level. Inspired by the well-known visible-light photocatalyst BiVO(4), the first molecular bismuth vanadium oxide has been synthesized to investigate the chemical and photochemical similarities between the solid-state and molecular compounds. The cluster H(3)[(Bi(dmso)(3))(4)V(13)O(40)]·ca. 4 DMSO was obtained from simple precursors in almost quantitative yield. Structural analysis showed that the cluster shell is based on the unusual all-vanadium ε-Keggin framework [ε-V(12)O(40)](15-), which is stabilized by coordination of four Bi(III) centers. The acidic character of the three cluster protons was demonstrated by titration studies. The cluster shows promising photocatalytic properties in visible-light photooxidation reactions and has high activity (turnover number >1200), high quantum yield (Φ=7.6 %), and good recyclability, which make it a promising first example of a new class of heterometallic polyoxometalates.

The photochemical properties of homo- and heterometallic molybdate-based Lindqvist polyoxometalate clusters are investigated in a comparative study and it is shown that vanadium substitution can be used as a facile synthetic tool to optimize the visible light absorption and photocatalytic activity of the cluster. The mono-vanadium substituted unit, [VMo(5)O(19)](3-) shows light absorption up to 480 nm whereas the light absorption of the molybdate analogue [Mo(6)O(19)](2-) is mainly in the UV region below 400 nm. The electronic absorption properties of both clusters are further investigated using TD-DFT calculations which show that vanadium incorporation leads to the formation of low-energy O → V LMCT transitions. In comparative photochemical dye decomposition test reactions under UV and Vis irradiation, a higher reactivity is observed for [VMo(5)O(19)](3-) together with turnover numbers of more than 1600. In addition it is shown that under anaerobic conditions, the photoreaction proceeds faster than in the presence of oxygen, suggesting that oxygen acts as a quencher in one of the photoredox steps.

A combined experimental and theoretical study shows that the photooxidative activity of two isostructural metal oxide clusters depends on their internal templates. To this end, two halide-templated bismuth vanadium oxide clusters [X(Bi(dmso)3 )2 V12 O33 ](-) (X=Cl(-) , Br(-) ) are reported and fully characterized. The two clusters show similar absorption features and illustrate that bismuth incorporation results in increased visible-light absorption. Significantly higher photooxidative activity is observed for the bromide-templated cluster compared with the chloride-templated one. Detailed photophysical assays and complementary DFT calculations suggest that the more efficient triplet excited state formation in the Br(-) -containing cluster is the decisive step in the photocatalysis and is due to the heavy-atom effect of the bromide. This concept can therefore open new pathways towards the optimization of photocatalytic activity in metal oxide clusters.

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Abstract Recent developments in polyoxometalate photochemistry are discussed with a focus on visible light driven productive chemical reactions. Special attention is given to the fundamental photochemistry of polyoxometalates and the effects on the resulting photoprocesses.