title: LiRb2LaB2O6: a new rare-earth borate with a MOF-5-like topological structure and a short UV cut-off edge.
abstract: A new rare-earth borate LiRb2LaB2O6(LB-1) has been synthesized using a high-temperature solution method. Interestingly, it shares its topological structure with the famous porous material MOF-5, which is formed from Zn4O(BDC)3(BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate). The nodes [OZn4] and organic linkers [BDC] of MOF-5 are carefully substituted with La3+rare-earth cations and the inorganic linkers [BO3] and [LiO4], respectively, in order to construct a pure inorganic open framework. LB-1 exhibits good thermal and water stability. Moreover, it possesses a short cut-off edge (<190 nm) and moderate birefringence (exp. 0.040@589.5 nm, cal. 0.038@589.5 nm). Further insights into the cut-off edge were given by first-principles calculations. The factors that influence the birefringence of LB-1 were discussed in view of the spatial arrangement of the [BO3] anionic groups.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Dongdong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yanzhou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Binghua
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi 830011, China. ffzhang@ms.xjb.ac.cn zhyang@ms.xjb.ac.cn slpan@ms.xjb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Shilie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pan