The Pink Box: Exclusive Homochiral Aromatic Stacking in a Bis-perylene Diimide Macrocycle.

This work showcases chiral complementarity in aromatic stacking interactions as an effective tool to optimize the chiroptical and electrochemical properties of perylene diimides (PDIs). PDIs are a notable class of robust dye molecules and their rich photo- and electrochemistry and potential chirality make them ideal organic building blocks for chiral optoelectronic materials. By exploiting the new bay connectivity of twisted PDIs, a dynamic bis-PDI macrocycle (the "Pink Box") is realized in which homochiral PDI-PDI π-π stacking interactions are switched on exclusively. Using a range of experimental and computational techniques, we uncover three important implications of the macrocycle's chiral complementarity for PDI optoelectronics. First, the homochiral intramolecular π-π interactions anchor the twisted PDI units, yielding enantiomers with half-lives extended over 400-fold, from minutes to days (in solution) or years (in the solid state). Second, homochiral H-type aggregation affords the macrocycle red-shifted circularly polarized luminescence and one of the highest dissymmetry factors of any small organic molecule in solution (glum = 10-2 at 675 nm). Finally, excellent through-space PDI-PDI π-orbital overlap stabilizes PDI reduced states, akin to covalent functionalization with electron-withdrawing groups.

Assessing Crystallisation Kinetics of Zr Metal-Organic Frameworks through Turbidity Measurements to Inform Rapid Microwave-Assisted Synthesis.

Controlling the crystallisation of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), network solids of metal ions or clusters connected by organic ligands, is often hindered by the significant number of synthetic variables inherent to their synthesis. Coordination modulation, the addition of monotopic competing ligands to solvothermal syntheses, can allow tuning of physical properties (particle size, porosity, surface chemistry), enhance crystallinity, and select desired phases, by modifying the kinetics of self-assembly, but its mechanism(s) are poorly understood. Herein, turbidity measurements were used to assess the effects of modulation on the solvothermal synthesis of the prototypical Zr terephthalate MOF UiO-66 and the knowledge gained was applied to its rapid microwave synthesis. The studied experimental parameters-temperature, reagent concentration, reagent aging, metal precursor, water content, and modulator addition-all influence the time taken for onset of nucleation, and subsequently allow microwave synthesis of UiO-66 in as little as one minute. The simple, low cost turbidity measurements align closely with previously reported in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies, proving their simplicity and utility for probing the nucleation of complex materials while offering significant insights to the synthetic chemist.

Functional Versatility of a Series of Zr Metal-Organic Frameworks Probed by Solid-State Photoluminescence Spectroscopy.

Many of the desirable properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be tuned by chemical functionalization of the organic ligands that connect their metal clusters into multidimensional network solids. When these linker molecules are intrinsically fluorescent, they can pass on this property to the resultant MOF, potentially generating solid-state sensors, as analytes can be bound within their porous interiors. Herein, we report the synthesis of a series of 14 interpenetrated Zr and Hf MOFs linked by functionalized 4,4'-[1,4-phenylene-bis(ethyne-2,1-diyl)]-dibenzoate (peb2-) ligands, and we analyze the effect of functional group incorporation on their structures and properties. Addition of methyl, fluoro, naphthyl, and benzothiadiazolyl units does not affect the underlying topology, but induces subtle structural changes, such as ligand rotation, and mediates host-guest interactions. Further, we demonstrate that solid-state photoluminescence spectroscopy can be used to probe these effects. For instance, introduction of naphthyl and benzothiadiazolyl units yields MOFs that can act as stable fluorescent water sensors, a dimethyl modified MOF exhibits a temperature dependent phase change controlled by steric clashes between interpenetrated nets, and a tetrafluorinated analogue is found to be superhydrophobic despite only partial fluorination of its organic backbone. These subtle changes in ligand structure coupled with the consistent framework topology give rise to a series of MOFs with a remarkable range of physical properties that are not observed with the ligands alone.

Stereoselective Halogenation of Integral Unsaturated C-C Bonds in Chemically and Mechanically Robust Zr and Hf MOFs.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) containing Zr(IV) -based secondary building units (SBUs), as in the UiO-66 series, are receiving widespread research interest due to their enhanced chemical and mechanical stabilities. We report the synthesis and extensive characterisation, as both bulk microcrystalline and single crystal forms, of extended UiO-66 (Zr and Hf) series MOFs containing integral unsaturated alkene, alkyne and butadiyne units, which serve as reactive sites for postsynthetic modification (PSM) by halogenation. The water stability of a Zr-stilbene MOF allows the dual insertion of both -OH and -Br groups in a single, aqueous bromohydrination step. Quantitative bromination of alkyne- and butadiyne-containing MOFs is demonstrated to be stereoselective, as a consequence of the linker geometry when bound in the MOFs, while the inherent change in hybridisation and geometry of integral linker atoms is facilitated by the high mechanical stabilities of the MOFs, allowing bromination to be characterised in a single-crystal to single-crystal (SCSC) manner. The facile addition of bromine across the unsaturated C-C bonds in the MOFs in solution is extended to irreversible iodine sequestration in the vapour phase. A large-pore interpenetrated Zr MOF demonstrates an I2 storage capacity of 279 % w/w, through a combination of chemisorption and physisorption, which is comparable to the highest reported capacities of benchmark iodine storage materials for radioactive I2 sequestration. We expect this facile PSM process to not only allow trapping of toxic vapours, but also modulate the mechanical properties of the MOFs.

Single-Crystal to Single-Crystal Mechanical Contraction of Metal-Organic Frameworks through Stereoselective Postsynthetic Bromination.

The properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) can be tuned by postsynthetic modification (PSM) to introduce specific functionalities after their synthesis. Typically, PSM is carried out on pendant functional groups or through metal/ligand exchange, preserving the structure of the MOF. We report herein the bromination of integral alkyne units in a pair of Zr(4+) and Hf(4+) MOFs, which proceeds stereoselectively in a single-crystal to single-crystal manner. The chemical and mechanical changes in the MOFs are extensively characterized, including the crystal structures of the postsynthetically brominated materials, which show a mechanical contraction of up to 3.7% in volume. The combination of stability and chemical reactivity in these MOFs leads to the possibility of tuning mechanical properties by chemical transformation while also opening up new routes to internal pore functionalization.

How Reproducible are Surface Areas Calculated from the BET Equation?

Porosity and surface area analysis play a prominent role in modern materials science. At the heart of this sits the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) theory, which has been a remarkably successful contribution to the field of materials science. The BET method was developed in the 1930s for open surfaces but is now the most widely used metric for the estimation of surface areas of micro- and mesoporous materials. Despite its widespread use, the calculation of BET surface areas causes a spread in reported areas, resulting in reproducibility problems in both academia and industry. To prove this, for this analysis, 18 already-measured raw adsorption isotherms were provided to sixty-one labs, who were asked to calculate the corresponding BET areas. This round-robin exercise resulted in a wide range of values. Here, the reproducibility of BET area determination from identical isotherms is demonstrated to be a largely ignored issue, raising critical concerns over the reliability of reported BET areas. To solve this major issue, a new computational approach to accurately and systematically determine the BET area of nanoporous materials is developed. The software, called "BET surface identification" (BETSI), expands on the well-known Rouquerol criteria and makes an unambiguous BET area assignment possible.

Uncovering the Structural Diversity of Y(III) Naphthalene-2,6-Dicarboxylate MOFs Through Coordination Modulation.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-network structures built from metal ions or clusters and connecting organic ligands-are typically synthesized by solvothermal self-assembly. For transition metal based MOFs, structural predictability is facilitated by control over coordination geometries and linker connectivity under the principles of isoreticular synthesis. For rare earth (RE) MOFs, coordination behavior is dominated by steric and electronic factors, leading to unpredictable structures, and poor control over self-assembly. Herein we show that coordination modulation-the addition of competing ligands into MOF syntheses-offers programmable access to six different Y(III) MOFs all connected by the same naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate ligand, despite controlled synthesis of multiple phases from the same metal-ligand combination often being challenging for rare earth MOFs. Four of the materials are isolable in bulk phase purity, three are amenable to rapid microwave synthesis, and the fluorescence sensing ability of one example toward metal cations is reported. The results show that a huge variety of structurally versatile MOFs can potentially be prepared from simple systems, and that coordination modulation is a powerful tool for systematic control of phase behavior in rare earth MOFs.