Synthesis and crystal structure of unprecedented oxo/hydroxo-bridged polynuclear gallium(III) aqua complexes.

Two new polynuclear oxo/hydroxo-bridged polynuclear gallium(III) aqua complexes are obtained upon treatment of Ga(3+)(aq) with pyridine: the supramolecular compound of macrocyclic cavitand cucurbit[6]uril with gallium complex containing 32 metal atoms [Ga(32)(mu(4)-O)(12)(mu(3)-O)(8)(mu(2)-O)(7)(mu(2)-OH)(39)(H(2)O)(20)](PyH subsetC(36)H(36)N(24)O(12))(3)(NO(3))(6).53H(2)O (1) and the tridecanuclear complex Ga(13)(mu(3)-OH)(6)(mu(2)-OH)(18)(H(2)O)(24)(15).12H(2)O (2). It follows that two modes of nucleation exist when Ga(3+)(aq) is hydrolyzed: one around the tetrahedral GaO(4) units (complex 1) and the other around the octahedral GaO(6) units (complex 2). This is the first time that polynuclear oxo/hydroxo-bridged aqua complexes of Ga(III) have been isolated without the use of other ligands to control or block olygomerization.