Fluorination of vanadates with organic fluorinating agents

The organic fluorinating agents [bis(2-methoxyethyl)amino]sulfur trifluoride (Deoxo-fluor (R)), diethylaminosulfur trifluoride (DAST), and N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI) were used to inspect the efficiency of fluorination of monovanadate, HxVO4(3-x)- (V1), and decavanadate, HxV10O28(6-x)- (V10), in solution by 51V NMR spectroscopy. It was observed that either VOF4- or VO2F2- can be generated in acetonitrile solutions at room temperature after one hour selectively for HxVO4(3-x)-, while HxV10O28(6-x)- is more sensitive towards reduction and only NFSI can be used to generate VOF4- . The differences in reactivity can be attributed to the electrophilicity of fluorine in Deoxo-fluor (R) and DAST, and its nucleophilicity in NFSI. Tetrabutylammonium fluoride, triethylamine trifluoride, and hydrogen fluoride-pyridine adduct were also used under the same conditions for comparison of the efficiency and selectivity of fluorination. It was observed that only HF.pyridine provided a complete transformation of V1 and V10 into VOF4-. The pilot experiments introduced in this work are the first example of fluorination of polyoxometalates with organic fluorination agents and other less commonly used fluorides with organic cations and show their great potential in the synthesis of polyoxometalates with fluorido ligand.