Diffusion-Coupled Molecular Assembly: Structuring of Coordination Polymers Across Multiple Length Scales

作者:Hirai Kenji; Reboul Julien; Morone Nobuhiro; Heuser John E; Furukawa Shuhei*; Kitagawa Susumu
来源:Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014, 136(42): 14966-14973.
DOI:10.1021/ja507971r

摘要

Porous coordination polymers (PCPs) are an intriguing class of molecular-based materials because of the designability of framework scaffolds, pore sizes and pore surface functionalities. Besides the structural designability at the molecular scale, the structuring of PCPs into mesoscopic/macroscopic morphologies has attracted much attention due to the significance for the practical applications. The structuring of PCPs at the mesoscopic/macroscopic scale has been so far demonstrated by the spatial localization of coordination reactions on the surface of templates or at the phase boundaries. However, these methodologies have never been applied to the fabrication of solid-solution or multivariate metalorganic frameworks (MOFs), in which multiple components are homogeneously mixed. Herein, we demonstrate the structuring of a box-type superstructure comprising of a solid-solution PCP by integrating a bidirectional diffusion of multiple organic ligands into molecular assembly. The parent crystals of [Zn2(ndc)(2)(bpy)](n) were placed in the DMF solution of additional organic component of H(2)bdc, and the temperature was rapidly elevated up to 80 degrees C (ndc = 1,4-naphthalenedicarboxylate, bpy = 4,4'-bipyridyl, bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate). The dissolution of the parent crystals induced the outward diffusion of components; contrariwise, the accumulation of the other organic ligand of H(2)bdc induced the inward diffusion toward the surface of the parent crystals. This bidirectional diffusion of multiple components spatially localized the recrystallization at the surface of cuboid parent crystals; therefore, the nanocrystals of a solid-solution PCP ([Zn-2(bdc)(1.5)(ndc)(0.5)(bpy)](n)) were organized into a mesoscopic box superstructure. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the box superstructures enhanced the mass transfer kinetics for the separation of hydrocarbons.

  • 出版日期2014-10-22