Structural aspects of some modified metal-alkoxides and related molecular precursors to ceramic materials by the sol-gel processing

Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur-302 004, India

E-mail : rkbohra@satyam.net.in

There is an increasing interest in designing better modified metal-alkoxide precursors for the deposition of metal-oxides and organic-inorganic hybrid materials by sol-gel/MOCVD techniques. In the alkoxide based sol-gel processes, gelation occurs through the development of a polymeric network formed as a consequence of the initial hydrolysis of the metal-alkoxides in the presence of water and its subsequent polymerization by condensation mechanism. Modifiers such as β-dikctones, carboxylic acids, Schiff's bases, glycols etc. can modify the relative reaction rates (by chelation effect) providing a better route to the formation of the gelatinous precipitate required for ceramic material applications. Such organically modified metal-alkoxides and related precursors also allow the introduction of organic moieties for organic-inorganic hybrid material applications.

Considerable amount of research work has been reported from our laboratories on various synthetic and structural aspects of derivatives containing M-O-C, M-S-C and M-N-C functionalities during the last three decades, yet much of the later developments coincided with the synthesis and characterization of the modified precursors for material applications. The present article deals with the synthesis and structural aspects of some modified metal-alkoxides and related precursors of some main group p-block and early d-block elements having potential applications in material science.