Unlocking the Chemical and Structural Complexity of Aluminum Hydroxy Acetates: from Commodity Chemicals to Porous Materials.

Aluminum acetates have been in use for more than a century, but despite their widespread commercial applications, essential scientific knowledge of their synthesis-structure-property relationships is lacking. High-throughput screening, followed by fine tuning and extensive optimization of reaction conditions using Al3+, OH- and CH3COO- ions, has unraveled their complex synthetic chemistry, yielding for the first time the four phase pure products Al(OH)(O2CCH3) ⋅ x H2O (x = 0, 2) (1A and CAU-65, 1B), Al3O(HO2CCH3)(O2CCH3)7 (2), and the porous aluminum salt [Al24(OH)56(CH3COO)12](OH)4 (CAU-55-OH, 3). Structure determination by electron and X-ray diffraction was carried out and the data suggested porosity for 1B and 3, which was confirmed by physisorption experiments. Even the scale-up to the 10 L scale was accomplished for 1A, 1B and 3 with yields of up to 1.1 kg (99%). This study of a seemingly simple chemical system provides important information on both fundamental inorganic chemistry and porous materials.

Synthesis, Structure and (Photo)Catalytic Behavior of Ce-MOFs Containing Perfluoroalkylcarboxylate Linkers: Experimental and Theoretical Insights.

Cerium-based Metal-Organic frameworks (Ce-MOFs) are attracting increasing interest due to their similar structural features to zirconium MOFs. The redox behavior of Ce(III/IV) adds a range of properties to the compounds. Recently, perfluorinated linkers have been used in the synthesis of MOFs to introduce new characteristic into the structure. We report the synthesis and structural characterization of Ce(IV)-based MOFs constructed using two perfluorinated alkyl linkers. Their structure, based on hexanuclear Ce6O4(OH)4 12+ clusters linked to each other by the dicarboxylate ions, has been solved ab-initio from X-ray powder diffraction data and refined by the Rietveld method. The crystallization kinetics and the MOF formation mechanism was also invesitigated by Synchrotron radiation with XAS spectroscopies (EXAFS and XANES). The MOFs present the same fcu cubic topology as observed in MOF-801 and UiO-66, and they showed good stability in water at different pH conditions. The electronic structure of these MOFs has been studied by DFT calculations in order to obtain insights into the density of states structure of the reported compounds, resulting in band gaps in the range of 2.8-3.1 eV. Their catalytic properties were tested both thermally and under visible light irradiation for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye.

Porous Salts Containing Cationic Al24 -Hydroxide-Acetate Clusters from Scalable, Green and Aqueous Synthesis Routes.

The solution chemistry of aluminum is highly complex and various polyoxocations are known. Here we report on the facile synthesis of a cationic Al24 cluster that forms porous salts of composition [Al24 (OH)56 (CH3 COO)12 ]X4 , denoted CAU-55-X, with X=Cl- , Br- , I- , HSO4 - . Three-dimensional electron diffraction was employed to determine the crystal structures. Various robust and mild synthesis routes for the chloride salt [Al24 (OH)56 (CH3 COO)12 ]Cl4 in water were established resulting in high yields (>95 %, 215 g per batch) within minutes. Specific surface areas and H2 O capacities with maximum values of up to 930 m2 g-1 and 430 mg g-1 are observed. The particle size of CAU-55-X can be tuned between 140 nm and 1250 nm, permitting its synthesis as stable dispersions or as highly crystalline powders. The positive surface charge of the particles, allow fast and effective adsorption of anionic dye molecules and adsorption of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

The first water-based synthesis of Ce(iv)-MOFs with saturated chiral and achiral C4-dicarboxylate linkers.

Six different chiral and achiral alkane dicarboxylic C4-acids, i.e. succinic acid (H2SUC), dl-2-methylsuccinic acid (H2MS), 2,3-dimethylsuccinic acid (H2DMS) and aspartic acid (d-, l- and dl-H2ASP), were used to obtain Ce(iv)-MOFs via microwave assisted reactions. In water-based syntheses, MOFs with three different topologies, denoted as UiO-66 (fcu), CAU-41 (bcu) and CAU-44 (bct), were obtained within 30 min under mild reaction conditions. The MOFs were fully characterized and their structures were refined from PXRD data. The chirality of the incorporated linker molecules was confirmed by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The optical activities were also investigated by second-harmonic generation (SHG) measurements. The use of H2MS, H2DMS and H2ASP leads to the formation of a UiO-66-type structure, and a hydrated form of the common hexanuclear cluster, i.e. [Ce6(µ3-O)4(µ3-OH)4(H2O)6]12+ was observed. Rietveld refinement of the PXRD data showed an ordered arrangement of the d- and l-enantiomers in Ce-UiO-66-dl-ASP. By employing H2SUC as the linker, the other two title compounds are obtained. CAU-41, [Ce6(µ3-O)4(µ3-OH)4(SUC)4(OH)4(H2O)4], exhibits the well-known eight-fold connectivity of the hexanuclear cluster, whereas in CAU-44, [Ce6(µ3-O)4(µ3-OH)4(SUC)4(NO3)2(OH)2(H2O)2], the connection of the clusters is also achieved by nitrate ions resulting in a framework with bct topology.