Dear Colleagues,

Inorganic oxides are ubiquitous compounds that possess a remarkable compositional range and structural diversity. An important subclass of the oxides is the polyoxometalates, molecular early transition metal oxide cluster anions. Since their discovery in the mid-nineteenth century, thousands of polyoxometalate compounds have been described, incorporating nearly every element of the periodic table. This chemical and structural versatility is reflected in a range of physical properties, giving rise to applications in magnetics, sorption, electron transfer and medicine. More recently, with the discovery of polyoxometalates of increasing nuclearities and dimensions, the applications to the rational design of nanocomposites have received considerable attention.

Today many properties and possible applications are being found for POMs since they can be seen as potential semiconducting molecule metal oxides and have remarkably diverse structural, electronic, magnetic and chemical properties and, as such, they provide a rich tool-box for bottom-up assembly of functional systems using ‘soft’ chemical approaches. The enormous potential of these robust building blocks to define a new type of molecular nanoscience using chemical assembly paradigms is extremely exciting.

This volume collects the recent investigations and insights of some of the leading scientists in the field. The choice of topics illustrates the scope of the research and its applications and an overview of recent advances. We hope that the volume communicates some of the excitement and novel science that continue to evolve from the study of these “venerable” compounds to the cutting edge applications in molecular nanoscience.

Prof. Dr. Jon Zubieta
Prof. Dr. Lee Cronin FRSE
Guest Editors