A route to high surface area, porosity and inclusion of large molecules in crystals

One of the outstanding challenges in the field of porous materials is the design and synthesis of chemical structures with exceptionally high surface areas. Such materials are of critical importance to many applications involving catalysis, separation and gas storage. The claim for the highest surface area of a disordered structure is for carbon, at 2,030 m2 g(-1) (ref. 2). Until recently, the largest surface area of an ordered structure was that of zeolite Y, recorded at 904 m2 g(-1) (ref. 3). But with the introduction of metal-organic framework materials, this has been exceeded, with values up to 3,000 m2 g(-1) (refs 4-7). Despite this, no method of determining the upper limit in surface area for a material has yet been found. Here we present a general strategy that has allowed us to realize a structure having by far the highest surface area reported to date. We report the design, synthesis and properties of crystalline Zn4O(1,3,5-benzenetribenzoate)2, a new metal-organic framework with a surface area estimated at 4,500 m2 g(-1). This framework, which we name MOF-177, combines this exceptional level of surface area with an ordered structure that has extra-large pores capable of binding polycyclic organic guest molecules--attributes not previously combined in one material.     

金属联吡啶/邻菲咯啉功能MOFs材料的合成与催化应用

联吡啶/邻菲咯啉（bpy/phen）类配体被广泛应用于金属配位的均相有机催化反应.将金属修饰的联吡啶/邻菲咯啉（M（bpy）/M（phen））活性中心固定在多孔载体中，可以有效提升催化效果，即拥有了均相催化剂的活性，也兼顾了主体材料的非均质性.文章综述了M（bpy）/M（phen）功能化金属有机框架（MOFs）的最新研究进展，并对以金属锆（Zr）为结点的具有三维拓扑结构的UiO-67型MOFs材料（MOF UiO-67）展开分析.文章详细介绍了这些多孔材料的合成方法，以及它们在热力学催化、光催化和电催化方面的催化性能.     

具有多相催化性能的金属有机框架的研究进展

相比传统的多孔碳和无机沸石材料,金属-有机骨架(MOFs)具有制备方便、易于修饰、高孔隙率、比表面积大、框架规模大小可调等优点,在气体存储、吸附分离、多相催化、磁学等广泛应用.文章结合作者实验室的研究,介绍了MOFs作为多相催化剂所具有的独特特点;评估了MOFs作为催化剂的潜力,重点从MOFs的结构要素出发总结了MOFs作为多相催化剂的应用现状;讨论了MOFs作为多相催化剂需要重视的问题,为定向合成此类材料在催化方面的应用提供基础和理论价值.     

A general strategy for nanocrystal synthesis

New strategies for materials fabrication are of fundamental importance in the advancement of science and technology. Organometallic and other organic solution phase synthetic routes have enabled the synthesis of functional inorganic quantum dots or nanocrystals. These nanomaterials form the building blocks for new bottom-up approaches to materials assembly for a range of uses; such materials also receive attention because of their intrinsic size-dependent properties and resulting applications. Here we report a unified approach to the synthesis of a large variety of nanocrystals with different chemistries and properties and with low dispersity; these include noble metal, magnetic/dielectric, semiconducting, rare-earth fluorescent, biomedical, organic optoelectronic semiconducting and conducting polymer nanoparticles. This strategy is based on a general phase transfer and separation mechanism occurring at the interfaces of the liquid, solid and solution phases present during the synthesis. We believe our methodology provides a simple and convenient route to a variety of building blocks for assembling materials with novel structure and function in nanotechnology.     

具有核壳结构的金属有机框架纳米材料的研究进展

多组分无机纳米粒子(NPs)和金属有机框架(MOFs)的可控一体化,正在引领着多种新型多功能材料的形成.具有核壳结构的金属有机框架纳米粒子(NP@MOF),综合了多组分无机纳米粒子和金属有机框架(MOFs)协同性质,NP@MOF材料的突出优点是:它的组成具有无限选择性、壳上孔径具有可调性、核壳具有多功能性,这种突出的独特功能使得人们争相洞察其未来发展.主要综述了具有核壳结构的多组分金属有机框架纳米粒子的制备方法和研究进展,最后介绍了其在多相催化、气体存储等方面的应用.     

微孔有机聚合物

微孔有机聚合物是一种新型的多孔材料,在非均相催化、吸附、分离和气体存储等方面具有潜在的应用.它是最近几十年发展起来的,全部由有机分子的构建块组装而成的微孔（孔径小于2.0nm）固体.依据设计策略的不同,主要可以分成以下4种：（1）通过交联反应阻止链密堆积的超交联聚合物;（2）通过刚性和扭曲基团阻止链密堆积的自具微孔聚合物;（3）通过大共轭？-体系刚性结构组建的共轭微孔聚合物;（4）通过适宜的官能团发生可逆地缩合反应来制备的共价有机骨架聚合物.本文根据国内外的研究背景,重点介绍自具微孔聚合物和共轭微孔聚合物.     

金属一有机笼的合成及其在色谱分离和选择性吸附中的应用研究进展

金属有机笼（metal organic cages,MOCs）作为新型多孔材料的一种,具有几何形状可调、空腔结构多样、易于修饰等特点,目前在传感、催化、分子识别等领域有着较多的应用,其合成方法途径也是多种多样,同时基于MOCs的选择性吸附和色谱分离应用也引起了研究者的极大兴趣.本文总结了近几年MOCs的合成方法与在选择性吸附和色谱分离中的应用研究进展,并对其发展前景进行了展望.      

A mesoporous germanium oxide with crystalline pore walls and its chiral derivative

Microporous oxides are inorganic materials with wide applications in separations, ion exchange and catalysis. In such materials, an important determinant of pore size is the number of M (where M = Si, Ge and so on) atoms in the rings delineating the channels. The important faujasite structure exhibits 12-ring structures while those of zeolites, germanates and other materials can be much larger. Recent attention has focused on mesoporous materials with larger pores of nanometre scale; however, with the exception of an inorganic-organic hybrid, these have amorphous pore walls, limiting many applications. Chiral porous oxides are particularly desirable for enantioselective sorption and catalysis. However, they are very rare in microporous and mesoporous materials. Here we describe a mesoporous germanium oxide, SU-M, with gyroidal channels separated by crystalline walls that lie about the G (gyroid) minimal surface as in the mesoporous MCM-48 (ref. 9). It has the largest primitive cell and lowest framework density of any inorganic material and channels that are defined by 30-rings. One of the two gyroidal channel systems of SU-M can be filled with additional oxide, resulting in a mesoporous crystal (SU-MB) with chiral channels.     

Visualizing single-molecule diffusion in mesoporous materials

Periodic mesoporous materials formed through the cooperative self-assembly of surfactants and framework building blocks can assume a variety of structures, and their widely tuneable properties make them attractive hosts for numerous applications. Because the molecular movement in the pore system is the most important and defining characteristic of porous materials, it is of interest to learn about this behaviour as a function of local structure. Generally, individual fluorescent dye molecules can be used as molecular beacons with which to explore the structure of--and the dynamics within--these porous hosts, and single-molecule fluorescence techniques provide detailed insights into the dynamics of various processes, ranging from biology to heterogeneous catalysis. However, optical microscopy methods cannot directly image the mesoporous structure of the host system accommodating the diffusing molecules, whereas transmission electron microscopy provides detailed images of the porous structure, but no dynamic information. It has therefore not been possible to 'see' how molecules diffuse in a real nanoscale pore structure. Here we present a combination of electron microscopic mapping and optical single-molecule tracking experiments to reveal how a single luminescent dye molecule travels through linear or strongly curved sections of a mesoporous channel system. In our approach we directly correlate porous structures detected by transmission electron microscopy with the diffusion dynamics of single molecules detected by optical microscopy. This opens up new ways of understanding the interactions of host and guest.     

Modular and predictable assembly of porous organic molecular crystals

Nanoporous molecular frameworks are important in applications such as separation, storage and catalysis. Empirical rules exist for their assembly but it is still challenging to place and segregate functionality in three-dimensional porous solids in a predictable way. Indeed, recent studies of mixed crystalline frameworks suggest a preference for the statistical distribution of functionalities throughout the pores rather than, for example, the functional group localization found in the reactive sites of enzymes. This is a potential limitation for 'one-pot' chemical syntheses of porous frameworks from simple starting materials. An alternative strategy is to prepare porous solids from synthetically preorganized molecular pores. In principle, functional organic pore modules could be covalently prefabricated and then assembled to produce materials with specific properties. However, this vision of mix-and-match assembly is far from being realized, not least because of the challenge in reliably predicting three-dimensional structures for molecular crystals, which lack the strong directional bonding found in networks. Here we show that highly porous crystalline solids can be produced by mixing different organic cage modules that self-assemble by means of chiral recognition. The structures of the resulting materials can be predicted computationally, allowing in silico materials design strategies. The constituent pore modules are synthesized in high yields on gram scales in a one-step reaction. Assembly of the porous co-crystals is as simple as combining the modules in solution and removing the solvent. In some cases, the chiral recognition between modules can be exploited to produce porous organic nanoparticles. We show that the method is valid for four different cage modules and can in principle be generalized in a computationally predictable manner based on a lock-and-key assembly between modules.     

Intercalation of alkylamines into an organic polymer crystal

Organic solid-state synthesis allows formation of products that are difficult or impossible to produce by conventional methods. This feature, and the high degree of reaction selectivity that can be achieved, is a direct result of the control over the relative orientation of the reactants afforded by the solid state. But as the successful development of 'topochemical reactions' requires the careful design of suitable reactant crystals, the range of both reactions and products amenable to this approach has been limited. However, recent advances in organic crystal engineering, particularly the rational design of complex solid architectures through supramolecular preorganization, have renewed interest in topochemical reactions. Previously, we have orientated muconate monomers--diene moieties with a carboxylate group on each end--using long-chain n-alkylammonium ions, such that the topochemical photopolymerization of the solid-state reactants produces layered crystals of stereoregular and high-molecular-mass polymers. Here we show that these polymer crystals are capable of repeated, reversible intercalation by conversion to the analogous poly(carboxylic acid), followed by transformation into a number of poly(alkylammonium muconate)s upon addition of the appropriate amine. Introduction of functional groups into these crystals may allow the design of organic solids for applications such as molecular recognition, separation and catalysis, thereby extending the range and practical utility of current intercalation compounds.     

Chemically tailorable colloidal particles from infinite coordination polymers

Micrometre- and nanometre-sized particles play important roles in many applications, including catalysis, optics, biosensing and data storage. Organic particles are usually prepared through polymerization of suitable monomers or precipitation methods. In the case of inorganic materials, particle fabrication tends to involve the reduction of a metal salt, or the controlled mixing of salt solutions supplying a metal cation and an elemental anion (for example, S2-, Se2-, O2-), respectively; in some instances, these methods even afford direct control over the shape of the particles produced. Another class of materials are metal-organic coordination polymers, which are based on metal ions coordinated by polydentate organic ligands and explored for potential use in catalysis, gas storage, nonlinear optics and molecular recognition and separations. In a subset of these materials, the use of organometallic complexes as ligands (so-called metalloligands) provides an additional level of tailorability, but these materials have so far not yet been fashioned into nano- or microparticles. Here we show that simple addition of an initiation solvent to a precursor solution of metal ions and metalloligands results in the spontaneous and fully reversible formation of a new class of metal-metalloligand particles. We observe initial formation of particles with diameters of a few hundred nanometres, which then coalesce and anneal into uniform and smooth microparticles. The ease with which these particles can be fabricated, and the ability to tailor their chemical and physical properties through the choice of metal and organic ligand used, should facilitate investigations of their scope for practical applications.     

Efficient Synthesis of Optically Active Alcohols

1 Introduction Optically active secondary alcohols are versatile building blocks for synthesis of unnatural biological active compounds and functional materials. Therefore, study on efficient synthesis of optically active alcohols is becoming an important subject in synthetic organic chemistry. Catalytic asymmetric reduction of carbonyl compounds is a practical method to create chiral alcohols. For the past decades, a large number of catalytic methods have been developed to achieve this goal. …     

金属-有机骨架(MOFs)的最新研究进展

作为一种新型的多功能分子基材料,金属-有机骨架化合物因其有机-无机杂化特性、结构上的有序性和可裁剪性、微孔性、特殊的光电磁性质及工业上的潜在运用而备受关注。它作为多孔材料,与无机或有机的多孔材料相比具有特殊的优势,是目前新功能材料研究领域的一个热点。文中概述了近些年发展起来的新兴领域:金属-有机骨架薄膜,发光金属-有机骨架材料及纳米级金属-有机骨架材料,对它们的研究进展及设计合成进行了总结。     

浅谈水热合成法在晶体合成中的应用

通过介绍一些从事晶体合成工作的化学家们利用水热法合成的晶体,阐述了在合成金属有机框架化合物这个被越来越多的化学家们关注的研究方向里,水热合成法的重要应用价值。同时讨论了在水热合成法中,不同的反应条件可以使同一种有机配体构筑出结构不同的金属有机框架化合物,并且拥有不同的性质,这也充分说明了水热合成法在构筑金属有机框架化合物中具有广泛的应用范围和应用价值。     

亚磷酸盐微孔化合物研究进展

 由于微孔材料独特的结构特点及在分离、吸附、离子交换和催化等方面的应用,探索合成具有新颖结构的微孔化合物成为当今研究的热点。磷酸盐分子筛是应用和研究最为广泛的一类微孔材料。亚磷酸盐微孔化合物作为磷酸盐分子筛材料的延伸,近年来引起科学家的极大兴趣。人们致力于合成具有大孔、螺旋、手性骨架等新颖结构的亚磷酸盐系列化合物,在很大程度上推动了微孔化合物的研究。目前,亚磷酸盐微孔化合物的研究已经涉及到元素周期表中的大部分金属元素,合成方法多样,所用模板剂种类繁多。通过对不同金属亚磷酸盐的综述,总结了亚磷酸盐化合物的结构特点、合成方法及模板剂在化合物合成中所起的作用,并介绍了其最新研究进展。     

A titanosilicate molecular sieve with adjustable pores for size-selective adsorption of molecules

Zeolites and related crystalline microporous oxides-tetrahedrally coordinated atoms covalently linked into a porous framework-are of interest for applications ranging from catalysis to adsorption and ion-exchange. In some of these materials (such as zeolite rho) adsorbates, ion-exchange, and dehydration and cation relocation can induce strong framework deformations. Similar framework flexibility has to date not been seen in mixed octahedral/tetrahedral microporous framework materials, a newer and rapidly expanding class of molecular sieves. Here we show that the framework of the titanium silicate ETS-4, the first member of this class of materials, can be systematically contracted through dehydration at elevated temperatures to 'tune' the effective size of the pores giving access to the interior of the crystal. We show that this so-called 'molecular gate' effect can be used to tailor the adsorption properties of the materials to give size-selective adsorbents suitable for commercially important separations of gas mixtures of molecules with similar size in the 4.0 to 3.0 A range, such as that of N2/CH4, Ar/O2 and N2/O2.     

Ionic liquids and eutectic mixtures as solvent and template in synthesis of zeolite analogues

The challenges associated with synthesizing porous materials mean that new classes of zeolites (zeotypes)-such as aluminosilicate zeolites and zeolite analogues-together with new methods of preparing known zeotypes, continue to be of great importance. Normally these materials are prepared hydrothermally with water as the solvent in a sealed autoclave under autogenous pressure. The reaction mixture usually includes an organic template or 'structure-directing agent' that guides the synthesis pathway towards particular structures. Here we report the preparation of aluminophosphate zeolite analogues by using ionic liquids and eutectic mixtures. An imidazolium-based ionic liquid acts as both solvent and template, leading to four zeotype frameworks under different experimental conditions. The structural characteristics of the materials can be traced back to the solvent chemistry used. Because of the vanishingly low vapour pressure of ionic liquids, synthesis takes place at ambient pressure, eliminating safety concerns associated with high hydrothermal pressures. The ionic liquid can also be recycled for further use. A choline chloride/urea eutectic mixture is also used in the preparation of a new zeotype framework.     

Molecular imprinting of bulk, microporous silica

Molecular imprinting aims to create solid materials containing chemical functionalities that are spatially organized by covalent or non-covalent interactions with imprint (or template) molecules during the synthesis process. Subsequent removal of the imprint molecules leaves behind designed sites for the recognition of small molecules, making the material ideally suited for applications such as separations, chemical sensing and catalysis. Until now, the molecular imprinting of bulk polymers and polymer and silica surfaces has been reported, but the extension of these methods to a wider range of materials remains problematic. For example, the formation of substrate-specific cavities within bulk silica, while conceptually straightforward, has been difficult to accomplish experimentally. Here we describe the imprinting of bulk amorphous silicas with single aromatic rings carrying up to three 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane side groups; this generates and occupies microporosity and attaches functional organic groups to the pore walls in a controlled fashion. The triethoxysilane part of the molecules' side groups is incorporated into the silica framework during sol-gel synthesis, and subsequent removal of the aromatic core creates a cavity with spatially organized aminopropyl groups covalently anchored to the pore walls. We find that the imprinted silicas act as shape-selective base catalysts. Our strategy can be extended to imprint other functional groups, which should give access to a wide range of functionalized materials.     

Free-standing mesoporous silica films with tunable chiral nematic structures

Chirality at the molecular level is found in diverse biological structures, such as polysaccharides, proteins and DNA, and is responsible for many of their unique properties. Introducing chirality into porous inorganic solids may produce new types of materials that could be useful for chiral separation, stereospecific catalysis, chiral recognition (sensing) and photonic materials. Template synthesis of inorganic solids using the self-assembly of lyotropic liquid crystals offers access to materials with well-defined porous structures, but only recently has chirality been introduced into hexagonal mesostructures through the use of a chiral surfactant. Efforts to impart chirality at a larger length scale using self-assembly are almost unknown. Here we describe the development of a photonic mesoporous inorganic solid that is a cast of a chiral nematic liquid crystal formed from nanocrystalline cellulose. These materials may be obtained as free-standing films with high surface area. The peak reflected wavelength of the films can be varied across the entire visible spectrum and into the near-infrared through simple changes in the synthetic conditions. To the best of our knowledge these are the first materials to combine mesoporosity with long-range chiral ordering that produces photonic properties. Our findings could lead to the development of new materials for applications in, for example, tuneable reflective filters and sensors. In addition, this type of material could be used as a hard template to generate other new materials with chiral nematic structures.