Quantitative Determination of Aqueous Dodecatungstophosphoric Acid Speciation by NMR Spectroscopy

The speciation and equilibria during base decomposition of α-[PW12O40]3– have been determined using 31P and 183W NMR spectroscopy over the pH range 0.7–13.5. NMR spectroscopy was used to directly observe the polytungstate species in aqueous solution at high concentration (0.25 mol L–1) and follows the progressive decomposition of [PW12O40]3– to WO42– and PO43–. It was found unexpectedly in the pH range 1.2–2.3 that [PW12O40]3– did not decompose directly to [PW11O39]7– but first formed an equilibrium with [P2W18O62]6–, [P2W21O71]6–, and some new, stable, intermediate species before converting into α-[PW11O39]7–.