aluminumcentered

Aluminumcentered is a term used in inorganic chemistry and materials science to describe molecules, ions, clusters, or solid-state frameworks in which aluminum serves as the central atom or node. The designation highlights the role of aluminum as the primary center around which ligands or structural units are arranged. In discrete coordination complexes, aluminum(III) tends to form five- or six-coordinate geometries, often octahedral or distorted octahedral, with ligands such as halides, alkoxides, hydroxide, or organic donors; the resulting aluminum-centered species act as Lewis acids and can catalyze a range of transformations.

In solid-state materials, aluminum-centered motifs are common in aluminosilicates and aluminophosphate frameworks. In zeolites, for example, aluminum atoms substitute for silicon within a tetrahedral framework, creating a negative framework charge that is balanced by protons or extra-framework cations. These aluminum-centered sites confer Brønsted and Lewis acidity and underpin many catalytic processes such as cracking and isomerization. In related frameworks, substitution patterns and local coordination environments around aluminum influence properties like acidity, thermal stability, and framework rigidity.

In discrete clusters and nanostructures, aluminum-centered oxo or hydroxo assemblies illustrate the central role of aluminum in a polyhedral oxide core and are studied as precursors to porous materials or as catalysts themselves. The term aluminumcentered is descriptive rather than a formal nomenclature, used to emphasize aluminum as the focal atom in a species rather than to indicate a single standardized compound.