A hexa-{MnIII–Schiff-base}-decorated cyclic polyoxovanadate as photocatalyst for dye degradation

A new organic–inorganic hybrid compound (NH4)2[{Mn(salen)(H2O)}6V6O18](NO3)2·30H2O (salen2− = N,N′-(ethylene)bis(salicylideneiminate)) (1) was synthesized by the reaction between NH4VO3 and [Mn(salen)(H2O)2]ClO4 in a methanol–water solution with pH = 5.0 adjusted by nitric acid. Compound 1 was characterized by elemental analyses, TG, IR, UV–vis, XPS and the single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 possesses a discrete cyclic hexanuclear vanadates, which is unprecedentedly grafted by six [Mn(salen)(H2O)2] units. Such a new hybrid compound displays good UV photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation.