Expanding the Chemistry of Salt-Inclusion Materials: Utilizing the Titanyl Ion as a Structure Directing Agent for the Targeted Synthesis of Salt-Inclusion Titanium Silicates

Salt-Inclusion Materials (SIMs) are a diverse and interesting class of materials. However, their synthesis has been largely serendipitous. The targeted synthesis of SIMs requires both synthetic and structural considerations and can be greatly assisted by the use of a structure directing agent, for example, the uranyl unit. In this work, we introduce a new structure directing agent, the titanyl unit. Single crystals of two new titanyl silicate SIMs, [Cs 3 Cs 6 Cl 0.7 F 0.3 ][(TiO) 4 (Si 12 O 32 )] and [Cs 8 Cs 8 Cl 1.4 F 0.6 ][(TiO) 4 (Ti 6 Si 14 O 51 )] were obtained via flux growth. We also report the synthesis of a titanate silicate SIM, [Rb 2 Rb 6 Cl][Ti 4 Si 10 O 31 F]. Aqueous and molten ion exchange studies were performed to replace the salt-inclusion within the materials.