The Science magazine highlighted in the section “Research in other journals” the article recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) by researchers from the ICN2 Supramolecular Nanochemistry and Materials Group. The article reports about zigzag linkers for transversal design in reticular chemistry. During the experiments, measurements were performed in the ALBA Synchrotron, at the XALOC beamline.

The article provided the first-ever report on the use of zigzag ligands to create isoreticular Zr-bcu-MOFs (metal–organic frameworks). MOFs are a revolutionary class of materials constructed from metal ions/clusters and organic ligands that link together via self-assembly.

The linkers for metal-organic frameworks are usually bidentate molecules (for example, dicarboxylic acids) connected by an organic group to create a linear or, in some cases, a bent geometry like isophthalic acid. Scientists explored the effect of a “zigzag” linker, trans,trans-muconic acid (tmuc), that forces an offset of inorganic building blocks. Reaction with ZrCl4 formed the metal-organic framework Zr6O4(OH)4(tmuc)8(H2O)8, which had an eight-connected bcu topology, a subset of the 12-connected fcu topology seen with linear linkers. This bcu topology was maintained with linkers of even larger transversal width, such as azobenzene-3,3′-dicarboxylic acid.

Topological influence of zigzag ligands in the assembly of Zr(IV) metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Through a transversal design strategy using reticular chemistry, it wa been able to synthesize a family of isoreticular Zr(IV)-based MOFs exhibiting the bcu—rather than the fcu—topology. The findings underscore the value of the transversal parameter in organic ligands for dictating MOF architectures.

  • Science Magazine highlight
  • Reference:

    Vincent Guillerm, Thais Grancha, Inhar Imaz, Judith Juanhuix, and Daniel Maspoch. Zigzag Ligands for Transversal Design in Reticular Chemistry: Unveiling New Structural Opportunities for Metal–Organic Frameworks. J. Am. Chem. Soc., July 31, 2018, 140 (32), pp 10153–10157. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b07050