Molybdenum cluster compounds molecular structure

Our work was initiated on the reduced ternary molybdenum oxides with the thought that the metal cluster electron count (MCE) should be variable for the Mo308 cluster units. Based on Cotton s previous molecular orbital treatment of such clusters (16) it appeared that MCE s from 6 to 8 could be accommodated, but it was not clear whether the seventh and eighth electrons would occupy bonding or antibonding orbitals with respect to the M-M interactions. We thus set about to determine this from structural data on suitable compounds. The attempted replacement of Zn2+ with Sc3+ to secure the compound ZntSc°Mo308 was conducted via the reaction shown in equation 1. 

---