Titanium butoxide
chemical compound
Titanium butoxide is a metal alkoxide with the formula Ti(OBu)4 (Bu = –CH2CH2CH2CH3). It is a colorless odorless liquid although aged samples can appear yellowish. Owing to hydrolysis, samples have a weak alcohol-like odor. It is soluble in many organic solvents. Decomposition in water is not hazardous, and therefore titanium butoxide is often used as a liquid source of titanium dioxide, which allows deposition of TiO2 coatings of various shapes and sizes down to the nanoscale.
Titanium butoxide is often used to prepare titanium oxide materials and catalysts.
Structure and synthesis
Like most titanium alkoxides (exception: titanium isopropoxide), Ti(OBu)4 is not a monomer but exists as a cluster (see titanium ethoxide). Nonetheless it is often depicted as a simple monomer.
It is produced by treating titanium tetrachloride with butanol:
TiCl4 + 4 HOBu → Ti(OBu)4 + 4 HCl
The reaction requires base to proceed to completion.
Reactions
Like other titanium alkoxides, titanium butoxide exchanges alkoxide groups:
Ti(OBu)4 + HOR → Ti(OBu)3(OR) + HOBu
Ti(OBu)3(OR) + HOR → Ti(OBu)2(OR)2 + HOBu
etc.
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