Exploring the interaction of decavanadate with methylene blue, toluidine blue and rhodamine B

The interaction of decavanadate with the cationic organic dyes methylene blue (MB), toluidine blue (TB) and rhodamine B (RB) was explored. For that purpose, a novel decavanadate salt (2,3-ampH)6[V10O28]4H2O (2,3-ampV10), where 2,3-ampH+ = 2-amino-3-methylpyridinium, and two salts with the organic dyes (MB)4[H2V10O28]10.8H2O (MBV10) and (TB)4(H2V10O28)10H2O (TBV10) were synthesized. The compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, powder X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The salts 2,3-ampV10 and MBV10 were also characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, while TBV10 was isolated as an amorphous solid. The supramolecular features of MBV10 showed columns of MB cations connected to V10 through H-bond interactions that resulted in channels filled with water molecules. The absorption spectrum of MBV10 was studied by density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the X3LYP/def2-TZVP level using the crystallographic data. The efficacy of 2,3-ampV10 to bleach MB solutions at pH 6.2-6.5 was outstanding, achieving nearly 90% discoloration in only 5 min, presenting moderate efficacy towards TB and quite negligible towards RB. Moreover, a metachromatic effect was observed in the TB solution at pH 3. The IR spectra of the isolated solids and the mass spectra of the supernatants suggest both adsorption and cation exchange as the main responsible processes for the bleaching of MB and TB solutions. The present work has tackled many fronts related to the chemistry of POVs, mainly synthetic, structural, and environmental approaches.Alkyl pyridinium decavanadate salt interacts with cationic organic dyes in aqueous media. A crystal structure of methylene blue with decavanadate is reported for the first time.