A thirty-year old mystery solved: identification of a new heptatungstate from non-aqueous solutions

Abstract

A new isopolyoxotungstate has been characterised, thirty years since the first spectroscopic evidence of its existence. The heptatungstate [W₇O₂₄H]⁵⁻, containing a {W₅} lacunary Lindqvist unit fused to a ditungstate fragment, has significant stability and is only the third isopolytungstate structure to be obtained from non-aqueous systems.