Threading the needle: guest transport in a versatile 0D porous molecular crystal

Abstract

Porous host crystals of the metallocycle [Cu₂(1,3-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene)₂Cl₄]·2CH₃OH are permeable to a series of small organic guests despite their lack of permanent channels. It is inferred from single crystal X-ray diffraction that transport of the guest molecules is facilitated by “flapping” of the imidazolyl rings.