A discrete metallocyclic complex that retains its solvent-templated channel structure on guest removal to yield a porous, gas sorbing material.
A discrete rectangular metal-organic complex that stacks to form one-dimensional channels filled with acetonitrile solvent molecules is described. Removal of the solvent under relatively mild conditions proceeds via a single-crystal to single-crystal transformation that leaves the host lattice unaltered. These findings proffer a design strategy for porous materials based on the simple principle that rigid molecular rings cannot pack efficiently and would thus favor the inclusion of guest species whenever possible. Upon guest removal, an efficiently packed new phase can then only be achieved by means of bond cleavage. Thus, achieving crystal porosity by maintaining robust metal-ligand coordination bonds in such discrete cyclic systems directly parallels the strategy employed for MOFs.
Dobrzańska
Liliana
L
Department of Chemistry, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland 7602, South Africa.
Lloyd
Gareth O
GO
Raubenheimer
Helgard G
HG
Barbour
Leonard J
LJ
D000327:Adsorption; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry
D005740:Gases; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D012997:Solvents; D012834:Silver