Investigation of ionic and flexible metal-organic frameworks and derived materials

Abstract

In recent times, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have fascinated chemists for their versatile applications as well as rational crystal structure design. Porous coordination polymers (PCPs) or MOFs are porous and polymeric infinite one, two or three dimensional networks held together by the coordination bonds between metal centres and organic ligands.1 Porous compounds have been of interest to scientists because the creation of nanometer sized spaces give rise to many interesting applications, e.g., gas storage, separation, catalysis, sensing, etc. Traditionally, porous compounds were classified as inorganic (e.g., zeolites, aluminosilicates, etc.) and carbon based materials (Fig. 1).