Photochemical reduction of transition metal substituted heteropoly anions in nonpolar solutions

The well-known photoreduction of polyoxometalates by alcohols are exploited to produce the reduced species, which cannot be directly produced electrochemically in nonaqueous solvents. Photochemistry is a reliable means to produce stable reduced transition metal substituted heteropoly tungstates in nonpolar media, where they hold promise as multielectron reduction catalysts.