A blueprint for the design of oxide materials is provided by nature. By borrowing from nature's ability to influence inorganic microstructures in biomineralization processes and in the hydrothermal synthesis of complex minerals, a new class of materials in which organic components exert a role in controlling inorganic microstructure is evolving. By employing members of the ever-expanding class of polymeric coordination complex cations, novel molybdenum oxide substructures, such as the one shown, may be prepared.