We report on a family of five new
4f- and 4d-doped sandwich-type
germanotungstates with the general formula [(
n
-C
4
H
9
)
4
N]
l
/
m
H
2
[(M(H
2
O)
3
)(γ-GeW
10
O
35
)
2
]·3(CH
3
)
2
CO
[M(H
2
O)
3
(GeW
10
)
2
]
(M = Ce
III
, Nd
III
, Gd
III
, Er
III
,
l
= 7; Zr
IV
,
m
= 6), which have been synthesized
at room temperature in an acetone–water mixture. Among the
compound series,
[Zr(H
2
O)
3
(GeW
10
)
2
]
8
–
, which has been obtained in the
presence of 30% H
2
O
2
, represents the first example
of a 4d-substituted germanotungstate incorporating the intact dilacunary
[γ-Ge
IV
W
10
O
36
]
8–
building block. All compounds were characterized thoroughly in the
solid state by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD),
IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and elemental analysis
and in solution by NMR and UV–vis spectroscopy. The phosphoesterase
activity of
[Ce(H
2
O)
3
(GeW
10
)
2
]
9–
and
[Zr(H
2
O)
3
(GeW
10
)
2
]
8–
toward the model substrates 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (NPP)
and
O
,
O
-dimethyl
O
-(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate (DMNP) was monitored with
1
H- and
31
P-NMR spectroscopy revealing an acceleration
of the hydrolytic reaction by an order of magnitude (
k
corr
= 3.44 (±0.30) × 10
–4
min
–1
for
[Ce(H
2
O)
3
(GeW
10
)
2
]
9–
and
k
corr
= 5.36 (±0.05) × 10
–4
min
–1
for
[Zr(H
2
...