Green synthesis of multi metal- citrate complexes and their characterization

Abstract

Four new multi metal-citrate complexes have been synthesized through green synthetic pathways. Their synthesis by hydrothermal route in the present research is decorated with features such as, a simple one pot synthesis, cost effectiveness, easy to scale up for commercial production, efficient synthesis conditions like mild temperature and shorter duration which further rules out the possibility of forming byproducts which may cause damage to the environment and being environmental benign as it eliminates the use and recovery of harmful organic solvents such as N, N- dimethyl formamide and N, N- diethyl formamide, used by the researchers in the past during the synthesis of similar metal- organic framework complexes. All four complexes are well defined crystalline materials with polynuclear multi metal-citrate framework having cubic crystal structure as indicated by their Powder X-ray Diffraction patterns. These complexes have been characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis and Powder XRD techniques.