Introduction of Multicomponent Dyes into 2D MOFs: A Strategy to Fabricate White Light-Emitting MOF Composite Nanosheets.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been extensively studied in host-guest chemistry by means of ultrahigh porosities, tunable channels, and component diversities. As the host matrix, MOFs exhibit immense potential in the preparation of single-phase white light-emitting (SPWLE) materials. Nonetheless, it is a great challenge that the size of the introduced guest molecules is limited by MOF pores, which affects the WLE optimization. In this work, two-dimensional (2D) MOFs are first utilized as the host matrices to simultaneously encapsulate red-green-blue fluorescent dyes for SPWLE. Various dyes@2D MOF composites with high-quality WLE performances and ultrathin nanosheet morphologies are directly assembled from 2D MOF precursors and dyes in high yields. Owing to the flexible interlamellar space of 2D MOFs, different types and sizes of guests can be easily introduced, which greatly expands the range of available MOF hosts and guests, making the WLE much more tunable. The strategy of employing 2D MOFs as the host matrices to introduce multicomponent dyes for SPWLE nanosheets resolves the restriction of MOF pores on the guest molecule size and opens a new avenue to rationally design and prepare SPWLE nanosheets that are highly solution-processable.

Multiple MMCT properties of the diruthenium-based cyanido-bridged complex RuVI2-NC-RuII-CN-RuVI2.

The diruthenium-based linear mixed valence complex trans-[Ru2(ap)4-NC-Ru(DMAP)4-CN-Ru2(ap)4][PF6]2 (12+[PF6]2) (ap = 2-anilinopyridinate, DMAP = 4-dimethylaminopyridine) and its two-electron oxidation product 14+[PF6]4 have been synthesized and fully characterized. The investigation reveals that complex 12+ displays a single MMCT transition, whereas complex 14+ has three identified MMCT transitions (MMCT-1, MMCT-2 and MMCT-3) upon oxidation. Interestingly, MMCT-2 in complex 14+ might result from the transition from the RuIII-NC-RuII-CN-RuIII component, which is composed of the central RuII and its two neighboring RuIII atoms from the cluster RuVI2 units, to both the terminal RuIII atoms of the same cluster RuVI2 units, which is supported by the TDDFT calculations.

The Electron Transfer Process in Mixed Valence Compounds with a Low-lying Energy Bridge in Different Oxidation States.

Mixed-valence compounds with the iso-cyanidometal-ligand bridge in different oxidation states are used as models for the investigation of the electron-transfer process. We synthesized a series of trimetallic isocyanidometal-bridged compounds with [Fe-CN-Ru-NC-Fe]n+ (n=2-4), in which the one-electron oxidation product (N3+ ) and two-electron oxidation product (N4+ ) compounds possess an isocyanidometal bridge whose energy is, respectively lower and slightly higher than the terminal metal centers energies. For the N3+ compounds, the bridge state (FeII -RuIII -FeII ) and mixed-valence states (FeIII -RuII -FeII or FeII -RuII -FeIII ) could be simultaneously observed on the IR timescale. For the N4+ compounds, as the donor becomes stronger the electron transfer bridge excited state (FeIII -RuII -FeIII ) becomes more and more stable, and even becomes ground state due to the strong electronic coupling between Fe and Ru.

Coordination tailoring of water-labile 3D MOFs to fabricate ultrathin 2D MOF nanosheets.

A novel coordination tailoring top-down delamination strategy involving the controllable partial disassembly of water-labile 3D MOFs has been explored to fabricate ultrathin 2D MOF nanosheets, and it exhibits many advantages such as green, convenience and high efficiency. Accordingly, 2D ultrathin MOF nanosheets with a two-fold interpenetrated architecture have been rapidly obtained from a 3D pillar-layered MOF, and they show distinguished fluorescence responses to different solvents.

A Diruthenium-Based Mixed Spin Complex Ru2 5+ (S=1/2)-CN-Ru2 5+ (S=3/2).

An unusual tetra-nuclear linear cyanido-bridged complex [Ru2 (µ-ap)4 -CN-Ru2 (µ-ap)4 ](BPh4 ) (1) (ap=2-anilinopyridinate) has been synthesized and well characterized. The crystallographic data, magnetic measurement, IR, EPR and theoretical calculation results demonstrate that complex 1 is the first example of mixed spin Ru2 5+ -based complex with uncommon electronic configurations of S=1/2 for the cyanido-C bound Ru2 5+ and S=3/2 for the cyanido-N bound Ru2 5+ . This phenomenon can be understood by the theoretical calculation results that from the precursor Ru2 (µ-ap)4 (CN) (S=3/2) to complex 1 the energy gap between π* and δ* orbitals of the cyanido-C bound Ru2 5+ core increases from 0.57 to 1.61 eV due to the enhancement of asymmetrical π back-bonding effect, but that of the cyanido-N bound Ru2 5+ core is essential identical (0.56 eV). Besides, the analysis of UV/Vis-NIR spectra suggests that there exists metal to metal charge transfer (MMCT) from the cyanido-N bound Ru2 5+ (S=3/2) to the cyanido-C bound Ru2 5+ (S=1/2), supported by the TDDFT calculations.

The MMCT excited state of a localized mixed valence cyanido-bridged RuII-Ru-RuII complex.

To investigate MMCT excited states of MV complexes, two symmetrical tetranuclear cyanido-bridged localized MV complexes RuIICNRuIII,III2NCRuII have been designed and synthesized. The ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy experiment reveals that the MMCT rate of 1 and 2 is 0.18 × 1014 s-1 (τ = 5.7 × 10-14 s) and 0.29 × 1013 s-1 (τ = 3.46 × 10-13 s), respectively, which suggests that the MMCT rate or the lifetime of the MMCT excited state may be controlled by a slight change of the substituent group on the metal center.

Different Degrees of Electron Delocalization in Mixed Valence Ru-Ru-Ru Compounds by Cyanido-/Isocyanido-Bridge Isomerism.

The two stable pairs of trimetallic compounds trans-[Cp*(dppe)Ru(µ-NC)Ru(dmap)4 (µ-CN)Ru(dppe)Cp*][PF6 ]n (1[PF6 ]n , n=2, 3; Cp*=1,2,3,4,5-pentamethylcyclopentadiene; dppe=1,2-bis-(diphenylphosphino)ethane; dmap= 4-dimethylaminopyridine) and trans-[Cp*(dppe)Ru(µ-CN)Ru(dmap)4 (µ-NC)Ru(dppe)Cp*][PF6 ]n (2[PF6 ]n , n=2, 3), which demonstrate cyanide/isocyanide isomerism, have been synthesized and fully characterized. 13+ [PF6 ]3 and 23+ [PF6 ]3 are the one-electron oxidation products of 12+ [PF6 ]2 and 22+ [PF6 ]2 , respectively. The results suggest that 1[PF6 ]3 is a class III mixed valence compound, whereas 2[PF6 ]3 might be an unusually symmetrical class II-III mixed valence compound composed of the two asymmetrical delocalized RuIII -NC-RuII mixed valence subunits.

Redox-induced switch between luminescence and magnetism in a trinuclear cyanide-bridged compound.

A trinuclear cyanide-bridged luminescent compound, trans-RuII(DMAP)4(CN)2[(PY5Me2)Mn]2[PF6]4 (1-R), and its oxidation product, ferromagnetic trans-RuIII(DMAP)4(CN)2[(PY5Me2)Mn]2-[PF6]5 (1-O), were synthesized and fully characterized. This is the first example of a molecular material showing a redox-controlled transformation between fluorescence and ferromagnetism.

Introduction of Red-Green-Blue Fluorescent Dyes into a Metal-Organic Framework for Tunable White Light Emission.

The unique features of the metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), including ultrahigh porosities and surface areas, tunable pores, endow the MOFs with special utilizations as host matrices. In this work, various neutral and ionic guest dye molecules, such as fluorescent brighteners, coumarin derivatives, 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM), and 4-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-1-methylpyridinium (DSM), are encapsulated in a neutral MOF, yielding novel blue-, green-, and red-phosphors, respectively. Furthermore, this study introduces the red-, green-, and blue-emitting dyes into a MOF together for the first time, producing white-light materials with nearly ideal Commission International ed'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates, high color-rendering index values (up to 92%) and quantum yields (up to 26%), and moderate correlated color temperature values. The white light is tunable by changing the content or type of the three dye guests, or the excitation wavelength. Significantly, the introduction of blue-emitting guests in the methodology makes the available MOF host more extensive, and the final white-light output more tunable and high-quality. Such strategy can be widely adopted to design and prepare white-light-emitting materials.

Redox effects of low-spin Ru(ii/iii) on slow magnetic relaxation of Ru-Mn(iii) 1D cyanide-bridged complexes.

A new one-dimensional cyanide-bridged complex [MnIII(salphen)RuII(DMAP)4(CN)2](PF6) (1) and its oxidized derivative [MnIII(salphen)RuIII(DMAP)4(CN)2](PF6)2 (2) have been synthesized and fully characterized. Magnetic measurements showed that 1 shows simple paramagnetism but 2 shows intrachain ferromagnetic interaction with slow magnetic relaxation.

Homochiral Metal-Organic Frameworks with Tunable Nanoscale Channel Array and Their Enantioseparation Performance against Chiral Diols.

Enantioseparation is an integral process in the pharmaceutical industry, considering the ever-increasing demand for chiral medicine products. As a new material, porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown their potential application in this field because their structures are easy to adjust and control. Though chiral recognition between racemic substrates and frameworks has made preliminary progress, discussions of their size-matching effects are rare. Herein with the help of channel-tunable homochiral MOFs (HMOFs), diols of different sizes have been separated in good enantiomeric excess (ee%). In addition, the ee% reaches 67.4% for the first time for diols as large as 1,1,2-triphenyl-1,2-ethanediol, which turns out to be the most effective value so far.

Benzoquinone-bridged Co2 complexes with different magnetic anisotropy induced by solvent molecules.

The first example of discrete small molecular compounds with different magnetic anisotropy induced by solvent molecules, benzoquinone-bridged Co2 complexes, [(TPyA)2Co2(L)]·solvent (L = 2,5-dibromo-3,6-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone, solvent = CH3CN and H2O), has been prepared and fully characterized.

Effects of Ru(ii/iii) redox on the Co(ii) coordination number and magnetic properties of 1D cyanide-bridged Co-Ru compounds.

A new 1D cyanide-bridged Co-Ru compound, {[trans-RuIII(dmap)4(CN)2Co(dipic)(MeOH)](PF6)}n (1a) (dmap = 4-dimethylaminopyridine, dipic = pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate), and its reduced state, [trans-RuII(dmap)4(CN)2Co(dipic)]n (1b) have been synthesized. Upon the Ru center reduction from iii to ii, the MeOH solvent molecule bound to Co(ii) in 1a is expelled. 1a displays ferrimagnetic properties but 1b is only a paramagnetic compound.

1D to 3D and Chiral to Noncentrosymmetric Metal-Organic Complexes Controlled by the Amount of DEF Solvent: Photoluminescent and NLO Properties.

A mixture of 2D and 1D metal-organic complexes, [ZnL(H2O)2·G1·DEF·2H2O]n (1a: G1 = naphthalene-2,7-disulfonate; DEF = N,N-diethylformamide) and [ZnL(H2O)3·G1·DEF·2H2O]n (2), has been prepared from a hydrogenated Schiff base L and Zn(II) in a DEF-contained solvent system under mild conditions. The yields of 1a and 2 are equivalent; however, they can be tuned by varying the amount of DEF solvent. Increasing the use of DEF tends to form pure 1a, while decreasing it generates 2. Without DEF, another novel 3D four-connected CdSO4 (cds) framework [ZnL(H2O)2·G1·2H2O]n (3) composed of alternated right-handed and left-handed helical chains has been constructed. The amount of DEF solvent has a significant impact on the diverse coordination architectures of 1-3, which is rare in the preparation of metal-organic complexes. The photoluminescence of complexes 1-3 along with naphthalene-2,7-disulfonate has been investigated in the solid state. The luminescent emission of G1 was enhanced greatly after being confined into metal-organic networks. In addition, complexes 1-3 display second-harmonic generation efficiencies, which are approximately 0.58, 0.42, 0.32, and 0.52 times as much as that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

Intercalation of Varied Sulfonates into a Layered MOC: Confinement-Caused Tunable Luminescence and Novel Properties.

The pores/channels of porous 3D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely applied to incorporate gas, solvent, or organic molecules. On the contrary, the utilization of the interlamellar void of layered metal-organic complexes (MOCs) remains underappreciated, although it is more flexible and available to accommodate molecules with different sizes. In this work, diverse sulfonates have been intercalated purposely into an identical layered MOC, which constructed various novel intercalation compounds possessing fluorescent, white-light emitting, photochromic, homochiral, or nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. With the help of single-crystal X-ray diffraction, their structures and the mutual interactions between the MOC host and the sulfonate guests were characterized. The properties of the guest molecules were tuned and meanwhile some new performances were generated after confining them into the interlayer region. Such a hybrid approach provides an efficient strategy to design and prepare multifunctional materials.

A Luminescent Metal-Organic Framework Thermometer with Intrinsic Dual Emission from Organic Lumophores.

A new mixed-ligand metal-organic framework (MOF), ZnATZ-BTB, has been constructed as a luminescent ratiometric thermometer by making use of the intrinsic dual emission at cryogenic temperatures. Its twofold interpenetrated network promotes the Dexter energy transfer (DET) between the mixed organic lumophores. The temperature-dependent luminescent behavior arises from the thermal equilibrium between two separated excited states coupled by DET, which is confirmed by Boltzmann distribution fitting. The small excited-state energy gap allows ZnATZ-BTB to measure and visualize cryogenic temperatures (30-130 K) with significantly high relative sensitivity (up to 5.29% K(-1) at 30 K). Moreover, it is the first example of a ratiometric MOF thermometer the dual emitting sources of which are widely applicable mixed organic ligands, opening up new opportunities for designing such devices.

From pair quadruple- to single-stranded helices to lines in a mixed ligand system via adjusting the N-substituent of L-Glu.

Utilizing the mixed-ligand strategy, a novel fourfold-interpenetrated 3D homochiral metal-organic framework (1) with rare pair quadruple-stranded helices was assembled from bpee (1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene) and NCG (N-carbamyl-l-glutamate). Changing the carbamyl substituent of NCG with benzoyl group (NBzG: N-benzoyl-l-glutamate), a non-interpenetrated 3D homochiral coordination polymer (2) composed of alternate right-handed and left-handed single helix was obtained. When p-tolylsulfonyl substituent was used instead, an interesting homochiral linear structure (3) was formed from mixed-ligand bpee and NTsG (N-p-tolylsulfonyl-l-glutamate), with all individual NTsG being lined up orderly. The steric hindrance of N-substituent of l-glu has a tremendous impact on the construction of these diverse frameworks. Complexes 1-3 display second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiencies, which are approximately 0.32, 0.45, and 0.55 times as much as that of KDP powder.

Insight into luminescence enhancement of coordinated water-containing lanthanide metal-organic frameworks by guest molecules.

A series of isostructural lanthanide three-dimensional compounds [Ln(HL)(H2O)2]·guest (Ln = Tb or Eu, = 2-(N,N-bis(4-methylbenzoic acid)amino)benzoic-1,4-dioic acid, guest = NMP, DMA, DMF or H2O) were assembled and characterized. Their luminescence intensities and quantum yields increase in the order of the guest molecules: NMP > DMA > DMF > H2O (NMP = N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide). The investigation reveals that the hydrogen-bond formed between the metal-organic frameworks should be responsible for the luminescence enhancement of the compounds.

Syntheses, crystal structures, MMCT and magnetic properties of four one-dimensional cyanide-bridged complexes comprised of M(II)-CN-Fe(III) (M = Fe, Ru, Os).

Four new one-dimensional (1D) zigzag chain cyanide-bridged complexes [cis-MII(L)2(CN)2FeIII(salen)](PF6) (M = Fe, L = bpy, 3; M = Fe, L = phen, 4; M = Ru, L = bpy, 5; M = Os, L = bpy, 6) (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, salen = N,N'-ethylenebis(salicylideneaminato) dianion) have been synthesized and structurally as well as magnetically characterized, especially 3 and 4 are mixed-valence complexes. Fortunately, the crystals of complexes 3, 4 and 6 suitable for single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis were obtained. In addition, the electronic absorption spectra indicate the existence of the MMCT (metal-to-metal charge transfer) bands in complexes 3­6. The temperature dependent magnetic susceptibilities reveal that the Fe(III)­Fe(III) exchange coupling separated by a diamagnetic cyanidometal ­NC­M(II)­CN­ bridge is weakly ferromagnetic for 3­5, but weakly anti-ferromagnetic for 6. Moreover, the specific heat measurements suggest complexes 3­5 exhibit a phase transition at 2.8 K, 2.7 K and 2.6 K, respectively.

A combination of the "pillaring" strategy and chiral induction: an approach to prepare homochiral three-dimensional coordination polymers from achiral precursors.

Utilizing enantiopure camphorsulfonic acid as a chiral induction agent, 3D homochiral complexes were obtained from achiral 2D layers and MoO4(2-) pillars. This methodology combines the "pillaring" strategy with chiral induction, providing a new way to synthesize homochiral 3D coordination polymers intentionally from achiral precursors.