Calixarene‐Based Oxovanadium Complexes as Molecular Models for Catalytically Active Surface Species and Homogeneous Catalysts

There are several reasons that make the combination of calixarenes with oxovanadium moieties attractive. Calixarenes are capable of simulating the surfaces of oxide bulk materials and supports, and on the other hand, supported vanadium oxides are an important class of heterogeneous catalysts, whose reactivity is still discussed controversially with respect to the effective mechanisms. Oxovanadium calixarene complexes can thus represent molecular models whose investigation in the homogeneous phase can shed some light into surface processes. This review describes the recent achievements in the synthesis of oxovanadium calixarene, thiacalixarene, and oxacalixarene complexes and the investigation of their reactivity. It has been shown that they represent active catalysts for the oxidation of alcohols and the polymerization/copolymerization of olefins.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)