Electron exchange between alpha-Keggin tungstoaluminates and a well-defined cluster-anion probe for studies in...

Fully oxidized alpha-AlIIIW12O40(5-) (1ox), and one-electron-reduced alpha-AlIIIW12O40(6-) (1red), are well-behaved (stable and free of ion pairing) over a wide range of pH and ionic-strength values at room temperature in water. Having established this, 27Al NMR spectroscopy is used to measure rates of electron exchange between 1ox (27Al NMR: 72.2 ppm relative to Al(H2O)63+; nu(1/2) = 0.77 Hz) and 1red (74.1 ppm; nu(1/2) = 0.76 Hz). Bimolecular rate constants, k, are obtained from line broadening in 27Al NMR signals as ionic strength, mu, is increased by addition of NaCl at the slow-exchange limit of the NMR time scale. The dependence of k on is plotted using the extended Debye-Hückel equation: log k = log k0 + 2alphaz1z2mu(1/2)/(1 + betarnu(1/2)), where z1 and z2 are the charges of 1ox and 1red, alpha and beta are constants, and r, the distance of closest contact, is fixed at 1.12 nm, the crystallographic diameter of a Keggin anion. Although not derived for highly charged ions, this equation gives a straight line (R2 = 0.996), whose slope gives a charge product, z1z2, of 29 +/- 2, statistically identical to the theoretical value of 30. Extrapolation to mu = 0 gives a rate constant k11 of (6.5 +/- 1.5) x 10(-3) M(-1) s(-1), more than 7 orders of magnitude smaller than the rate constant [(1.1 +/- 0.2) x 10(5) M(-1) s(-1)] determined by 31P NMR for self-exchange between P(V)W12O40(3-) and its one-electron-reduced form, P(V)W12O40(4-). Sutin's semiclassical model reveals that this dramatic difference arises from the large negative charges of 1ox and 1red. These results, including independent verification of k11, recommend 1red as a well-behaved electron donor for investigating outer-sphere electron transfer to molecules or nanostructures in water, while addressing a larger issue, the prediction of collision rates between uniformly charged nanospheres, for which 1ox and 1red provide a working model.