Polymetallic Alkoxides - Precursors for Ceramics

Abstract

ABSTRACTBeginning with the work of Dislich, metal alkoxides have been increasingly used for the preparation of oxide-ceramics by the ‘sol-gel’ process. In spite of higher initial cost of alkoxides, their main advantages are (i)homoge-neous mixing at molecular level in the initial solution; (ii)ease of hydrolysis; and (iii) lower sintering temperatures.Although the formation of new chemical bonds between different alkoxides employed in the starting mixed solution has been envisaged, the actual isolation of a large variety of polymetallic alkoxides in our laboratories has given an entirely new turn to the expectations (e.g., preparation of spinel from magnesium bis-tetraalkoxyaluminates) from this process. Some such possibilities are being presented for synthesis of novel ceramic materials.Reactions of polymetallic alkoxides with water, alcohols andβ-diketones would be discussed to throw light on their hydrolysis process in the presence of other alcohols and chelating ligands.