title: Design and Synthesis of a Water-Stable Anionic Uranium-Based Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) with Ultra Large Pores.
abstract: Ionic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a subclass of porous materials that have the ability to incorporate different charged species in confined nanospace by ion-exchange. To date, however, very few examples combining mesoporosity and water stability have been realized in ionic MOF chemistry. Herein, we report the rational design and synthesis of a water-stable anionic mesoporous MOF based on uranium and featuring tbo-type topology. The resulting tbo MOF exhibits exceptionally large open cavities (3.9 nm) exceeding those of all known anionic MOFs. By supercritical CO2 activation, a record-high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area (2100 m(2)  g(-1) ) for actinide-based MOFs has been obtained. Most importantly, however, this new uranium-based MOF is water-stable and able to absorb positively charged ions selectively over negatively charged ones, enabling the efficient separation of organic dyes and biomolecules.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: Nicolaas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: Xirui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: Christos D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Malliakas
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: J Fraser
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Stoddart
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Hupp
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA. j-hupp@northwestern.edu, o-farha@northwestern.edu.|Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia. j-hupp@northwestern.edu, o-farha@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Omar K
authors.initials: OK
authors.lastname: Farha
keywords: enzyme separation; ion exchange; metal-organic frameworks; uranium; water-stable MOFs