Vladislav A. Blatov*ab,
Olga A. Blatovaab,
Frits Daeyaertcd and
Michael W. Deem*ce
aSamara Center for Theoretical Materials Science (SCTMS), Samara University, Ac. Pavlov St. 1, 443011 Samara, Russian Federation. E-mail: blatov@topospro.com
bSamara Center for Theoretical Materials Science (SCTMS), Samara State Technical University, Molodogvardeyskaya St. 244, 443100 Samara, Russian Federation
cDepartment of Bioengineering, Rice University, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX, USA. E-mail: mwdeem@rice.edu
dFD Computing, Stijn Streuvelsstraat 64, 2340 Beerse, Belgium
eDepartment of Physics & Astronomy, Rice University, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX, USA
First published on 8th May 2020
An increasing number of newly synthesized materials have been found to be previously present in databases of predicted porous materials. This has been observed not only for zeolites, but also for other inorganic materials and for MOFs. We here quantify the number of synthesized zeolites that are present in a large database of predicted zeolite structures as well as the number of other inorganic crystals and MOFs present in this same database. We find a significant number of real materials are in this predicted database of zeolite-like structures. These results suggest that many other predicted structures in this database may be suitable targets for designer materials synthesis.
Due to their importance in many industrial processes, the discovery and identification of novel zeolite and zeolite-like materials is a field of intensive research.4 To aid the search for new zeolites, computational methods have been applied to generate novel predicted topologies that expand upon the currently known materials.5–7 The PCOD database8 developed in the Deem laboratory contains predicted zeolite structures that have both a low computed energy gap with respect to alpha-quartz, and an energy/density ratio that is in the range of known zeolites. A considerable number of existing zeolites were found in the structures predicted during the generation of the database.6
The PCOD has been extensively screened in the search for zeolites with specific functionalities.9–15 The ToposPro program package16 is a computer program for the topological analysis of crystal structures allowing an objective description and comparison of crystal structures. Recently, the PCOD database has been made searchable with the ToposPro package and the corresponding online TopCryst service.17 This allows the comparison of newly discovered zeolite frameworks with the predicted frameworks in the PCOD. Thus, a number of recent candidates for the IZA database of known zeolites have been found to correspond to entries in the PCOD.18–20 In total, 154 of the 248 known zeolite frameworks in IZA were identified in the PCOD. The concept of structure representation in the ToposPro method also allows the comparison of topologies of different classes of materials such as inorganic compounds and coordination polymers. By searching the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICOD21) and the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD22) we additionally found a large number of topologies that were predicted in the PCOD. Of these, 57 were zeolite-like inorganic materials, and 118 were metal–organic frameworks (MOF), another class of nanoporous materials.
Thus, a large number of predicted zeolite topologies present in the PCOD correspond to synthesizable compounds, be it zeolites or other nanoporous materials. This, in combination with the very large size and topological diversity of the database, is an incentive for further search efforts of this database in the design of novel materials with tailored properties.
The ToposPro program package offers an objective and complete approach to explore crystal structures by analyzing their topology. In addition to coordination sequences, ToposPro computes the so-called point symbols and vertex symbols that collect the shortest cycles and rings (cycles without shortcuts) of atoms, respectively.28 The general scheme of the analysis includes the following steps:29 (i) determination of all interatomic interactions in the structure using a number of chemical and geometrical criteria; (ii) search for structural groups (building blocks) with unique topological algorithms; (iii) simplification of the structure by squeezing the structural groups into their centers of mass keeping the connectivity between the groups; (iv) determination of the topology for the resulting underlying net, i.e. the net of the centers of the structural groups, by comparison of the topological indices (coordination sequences, point and vertex symbols) of the underlying net with the indices for the reference topologies from the ToposPro TTD Collection. All these steps are performed in an automated mode, so thousands of crystal structures can be processed in an appropriate time. We have applied this procedure to determine the PCOD topologies and to identify which IZA zeolite topologies are present in the PCOD. Additionally, the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD, version 5.40 as of November 2018) and the Inorganic Crystal structure Database (ICSD, release 2019/2) were screened for PCOD topologies. Two classes of materials were distinguished: zeolite-like inorganic materials, and MOFs. For identifying the MOFs, the MOF building blocks were treated as T-centers, and the organic linkers as the oxygen atoms in the corresponding predicted zeolite structures. All frameworks (PCOD structures, inorganic materials and MOFs) were simplified to their underlying nets consisting of only T centers by replacing the linker nodes (L) by edges between the T centers, i.e. by the graph transformation T – L – T → T – T (Fig. 1). To designate the underlying topologies, besides the IZA symbols for zeolites, we use the RCSR three-letter symbols,30 the ToposPro NDn nomenclature, the Epinet sqc symbols, and Fischer's symbols k/m/fn for three-periodic sphere packings.29 For the PCOD topologies that have not been found in other resources, we use the ToposPro NDn symbols with the suffix HZ; for example, the ToposPro symbol 4,4T1319-HZ means that this is a predicted zeolite with two topologically inequivalent T nodes (N = 4,4), three-periodic framework (D = T) and the ordinal number n = 1319 among other topologically different predicted zeolites with two crystallographically distinct T nodes.
Fig. 1 Simplification of a zeolite (left) and a MOF (right) structures to the zeolite framework, in this case sodalite (SOD). At the first step, all extraframework species are removed, and organic ligands are squeezed into their centers of mass. At the second step, all bridge nodes are transformed to the network edges. Aluminosilicate AlSi5O12 with unidentified extraframework organic species31 and [(methylimidazolato)2Zn]32 are the original zeolite and MOF structures in this example. |
Table SI1† lists the 154 PCOD structures that were identified in the IZA database. Column one provides the PCOD code, and column two provides the IZA code of each framework.
Table 1 lists the 72 zeolite-like and other inorganic structures. The first two columns provide the PCOD number and the number of actual structures found. Not all topologies are listed, but only those that are chemically close to zeolites. For each topology, the ICSD reference code and atomic composition of a selected structure are provided in columns three and four. The last column provides the symbol of the topology according to one of the nomenclatures described above.
PCOD | Number of structures | ICSD ref. code (example) | Formula (example) | Underlying topology |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCOD8000022 | 364 | 9829 | NaAlSi3O8 | fel |
PCOD8322222 | 352 | 1109 | SiO2 | lon |
PCOD8249897 | 274 | 33765 | Na(FeO2) | dia |
PCOD8149775 | 202 | 237135 | Al4Fe2Si5O18 | brl |
PCOD8322767 | 97 | 23371 | Na2Mg5Si12O30 | 4,4T45 |
PCOD8029344 | 79 | 87538 | Na4(Al3Si9O24)Cl | sca |
PCOD8167638 | 57 | 170497 | SiO2 | pcl |
PCOD8128122 | 52 | 74860 | LiAl(PO3)4 | mog |
PCOD8046833 | 49 | 20208 | Li3(PO4) | deh2 |
PCOD8147992 | 46 | 18112 | SiO2 | coe |
PCOD8171653 | 17 | 180997 | Ca(Al2O4) | byl |
PCOD8128676 | 13 | 74808 | KCo(PO4) | tpd |
PCOD8033784 | 10 | 246132 | Li2Fe(SiO4) | 4,4,4,4T130 |
PCOD8249812 | 9 | 41661 | CaAl2O4 | cag |
PCOD8157925 | 9 | 68772 | K(AlSi2O6) | kea |
PCOD8308057 | 5 | 195287 | Au(PO4) | pts |
PCOD8152484 | 4 | 156657 | BaNa2(AlSiO4)4 | bnl |
PCOD8129062 | 4 | 191544 | Li2Mn(SiO4) | sie |
PCOD8128656 | 3 | 171001 | BaFe2O4 | baf |
PCOD8321582 | 3 | 151369 | Ca3(Al2O6) | nbo |
PCOD8170506 | 3 | 75659 | SiO2 | irl |
PCOD8045579 | 2 | 33279 | Na2Li3(FeO4) | sqc8104 |
PCOD8302308 | 2 | 170516 | SiO2 | tzs |
PCOD8000219 | 2 | 173216 | Li3(VO4)(H2O)6 | afw |
PCOD8046854 | 2 | 380488 | KBSi2O6 | 4,4,4T91 |
PCOD8129307 | 1 | 1291 | Be(PO3)2 | 4,4,4T159 |
PCOD8048022 | 1 | 56684 | SiO2 | 4,4T39 |
PCOD8154928 | 1 | 60069 | LiK(PO3)2 | zsn |
PCOD8255081 | 1 | 62584 | SiO2 | 4,4,4,4T15 |
PCOD8166122 | 1 | 62585 | SiO2 | 4,4,4,4T14 |
PCOD8325712 | 1 | 63414 | Na2.67K1.33Zn4(PO4)4 | 4,4,4T148 |
PCOD8000277 | 1 | 75653 | SiO2 | unc |
PCOD8128689 | 1 | 75664 | SiO2 | bbe |
PCOD8000217 | 1 | 79705 | K2(ZnSi2O6) | bbi |
PCOD8037080 | 1 | 79705 | K2(ZnSi2O6) | 4,4,4,4,4T4 |
PCOD8128125 | 1 | 83427 | Na2Zn(Si2O6) | bbm |
PCOD8189369 | 1 | 83861 | SiO2 | 4,4,4,4,4T3 |
PCOD8323349 | 1 | 89700 | SiO2 | bam |
PCOD8000118 | 1 | 91681 | Al(PO4) | bcq |
PCOD8163521 | 1 | 92721 | (Mg0.917Fe0.083)2Na0.084(Al3.970Fe0.038Si4.992)O18(H2O)0.38(CO2)0.192 | mot-e |
PCOD8307680 | 1 | 170479 | SiO2 | wse |
PCOD8123215 | 1 | 170480 | SiO2 | dei |
PCOD8321616 | 1 | 170493 | SiO2 | umk |
PCOD8009546 | 1 | 170498 | SiO2 | umq |
PCOD8170966 | 1 | 170499 | SiO2 | umi |
PCOD8330894 | 1 | 170512 | SiO2 | cbo |
PCOD8308285 | 1 | 170526 | SiO2 | uot |
PCOD8308073 | 1 | 170528 | SiO2 | uox |
PCOD8169643 | 1 | 170534 | SiO2 | ukb |
PCOD8301974 | 1 | 170541 | SiO2 | 4/5/t1 |
PCOD8297080 | 1 | 170543 | SiO2 | lcs |
PCOD8129487 | 1 | 170545 | SiO2 | gsi |
PCOD8123200 | 1 | 170546 | SiO2 | mmt |
PCOD8045573 | 1 | 170547 | SiO2 | neb |
PCOD8264888 | 1 | 173625 | Al15.68(Si41.1Al6.9)O96 | 4,4,4,4T127 |
PCOD8003420 | 1 | 170960 | Rb4(UO2)2(Si8O20) | 4,4,4,4,4T7 |
PCOD8308378 | 1 | 261103 | K3.33(C2H5)C1.5(Be2Si12O33.7) | ksx |
PCOD8328203 | 1 | 92822 | NaB(SiO4) | 4,4,4T24-CA |
PCOD8185681 | 8 | 167183 | Zn(SiO3) | 4,4,4T5318-HZ |
PCOD8120181 | 4 | 4362 | NaK(CuSi4O10) | 4,4,4T4043-HZ |
PCOD8170348 | 2 | 162489 | K(AlSiO4) | 4,4,4T5003-HZ |
PCOD8124771 | 2 | 410869 | K(ZnBP2O8) | 4,4T1080-HZ |
PCOD8283381 | 2 | 2116 | Na6FeSi8Al4O26 | 4,4,4T6294-HZ |
PCOD8127150 | 1 | 20797 | K2BeSi4O10 | 4,4,4,4,4T243508-HZ |
PCOD8052206 | 1 | 33924 | H(AlSi4O10) | 4,4T1048-HZ |
PCOD8308516 | 1 | 59846 | Zn(PO3)2 | 4,4,4T6862-HZ |
PCOD8321753 | 1 | 65475 | Li3K3(P6O18)(H2O) | 4,4T1321-HZ |
PCOD8099926 | 1 | 85474 | Si56O112 | 4,4,4,4,4,4,4T28511-HZ |
PCOD8321730 | 1 | 85734 | Li6(P6O18)(H2O)3 | 4,4T1319-HZ |
PCOD8071670 | 1 | 86548 | SiO2 | 4,4,4,4,4,4T6819-HZ |
PCOD8308593 | 1 | 86549 | SiO2 | 4,4,4T6867-HZ |
PCOD8168418 | 1 | 411142 | Na0.75(NH4)0.25Zn(PO4) | 4,4T1145-HZ |
Table 2 lists the 118 MOF topologies. The first column provides the PCOD identifier and the second column the topology symbol. The bold entries have IZA zeolite topologies, the codes of which are listed in the third column. Column four lists the total number of structures found in the CSD, and the last column provides the CSD code of one of these structures as an example.
PCOD code | Underlying topology | IZA code | Number of structures | CSD ref. code (example) |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCOD8249897 | dia | 2291 | XEYXUW | |
PCOD8308057 | pts | 632 | AVIVAC | |
PCOD8128122 | mog | 299 | PUZBES | |
PCOD8321582 | nbo | 258 | TANNUU | |
PCOD8321332 | sod | SOD | 186 | XIZDER |
PCOD8067826 | crb | BCT | 120 | PUMNIV |
PCOD8000282 | gis | GIS | 96 | DIZJED |
PCOD8322222 | lon | 85 | FIPXAF | |
PCOD8171811 | bbf | 70 | QAVDEW | |
PCOD8249812 | cag | 51 | KOTPUG | |
PCOD8000277 | unc | 41 | VAHWOS02 | |
PCOD8045573 | neb | 40 | ANUPIK | |
PCOD8162585 | dft | DFT | 22 | HIFVOI |
PCOD8297080 | lcs | 22 | GIZJUV | |
PCOD8306957 | rho | RHO | 20 | MECWOH |
PCOD8321454 | uni | 20 | DIVPUU | |
PCOD8077978 | gme | GME | 16 | RIRDAZ |
PCOD8164109 | frl | 15 | VEPBOK | |
PCOD8170506 | irl | 14 | DEXXOU | |
PCOD8000219 | afw | 11 | DAGFUP | |
PCOD8068050 | cha | CHA | 11 | NIRKAB |
PCOD8238986 | THO | 10 | BEFNAD | |
PCOD8123200 | mmt | 10 | DUWREU | |
PCOD8308045 | ana | ANA | 10 | GUPDOL |
PCOD8306691 | mer | MER | 8 | EWENUR |
PCOD8170814 | npo | NPO | 7 | SODKIH |
PCOD8308796 | SAV | 6 | LOFZUB | |
PCOD8308791 | edi | EDI | 6 | XAQTOY01 |
PCOD8117704 | LAU | 5 | YOMVIG | |
PCOD8123215 | dei | 5 | TOBQAE01 | |
PCOD8115801 | ast | AST | 5 | IRUROC |
PCOD8001707 | can | CAN | 5 | PAJSAX |
PCOD8307996 | fau | FAU | 5 | XEQNIQ |
PCOD8304448 | mtn | MTN | 4 | GAQYIH |
PCOD8160106 | 4,4T67 | 4 | QUDKIK | |
PCOD8122541 | OWE | 4 | BEFNOR | |
PCOD8307029 | asv | ASV | 4 | GOMSUW |
PCOD8324721 | unj | 4 | UFAQIE | |
PCOD8129487 | gsi | 4 | ZUYWAR | |
PCOD8077973 | cgs | CGS | 3 | DEPTOH |
PCOD8077922 | cfc | 3 | XACFAJ | |
PCOD8227613 | bbh | 3 | ADECEU | |
PCOD8123876 | 4,4,4,4,4,4T10 | 3 | EXOKIM | |
PCOD8052570 | pcb | ACO | 3 | DEJROB |
PCOD8055858 | 4,4T133 | 3 | TAXHUX | |
PCOD8163960 | 4,4T85 | 3 | WUPTIM | |
PCOD8163521 | mot-e | 3 | FIWJIG | |
PCOD8125027 | 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4T11 | JNT | 3 | SOQJIT01 |
PCOD8095118 | lev | LEV | 3 | TOFWEQ |
PCOD8331046 | sdt | 2 | ALIBUT | |
PCOD8330894 | cbo | 2 | DOLWEI | |
PCOD8047042 | noq | 2 | LATCIS | |
PCOD8126401 | 4,4,4,4T11 | 2 | AMBZAG10 | |
PCOD8085224 | sas | SAS | 2 | VAHSIH |
PCOD8045484 | 4,4T10 | 2 | BOSCET | |
PCOD8321918 | afx | AFX | 2 | OSUSAY |
PCOD8156657 | JRY | 2 | MORZID | |
PCOD8167638 | pcl | 2 | RIDKOE | |
PCOD8117232 | JSN | 2 | DARJOX | |
PCOD8295280 | SAF | 2 | SUSZIQ | |
PCOD8248916 | JSW | 2 | HATSEC | |
PCOD8077977 | AEI | 2 | BEFPAF | |
PCOD8128125 | bbm | 2 | MUNQIX | |
PCOD8124791 | ucn | SBN | 2 | FIGQIV |
PCOD8323892 | 4,4T148 | 2 | RIRDED | |
PCOD8169309 | bik | BIK | 2 | YOMBOS |
PCOD8185531 | bbg | 1 | MUDHOK | |
PCOD8171792 | cdp | 1 | ZAYFEN | |
PCOD8217418 | stc-4,4-Ccce | 1 | PUWQAA | |
PCOD8047071 | 4,4,4T162 | 1 | OKUWOI | |
PCOD8123892P | fsg-4,4-Cmmm | 1 | XUNTEH01 | |
PCOD8156062 | cus | 1 | XUNSOQ | |
PCOD8324445 | afi | AFI | 1 | IMIDZB13 |
PCOD8255216 | 4,4,4T206 | 1 | KALXUT | |
PCOD8041061 | ukn | 1 | OBAWOG | |
PCOD8308449 | kat1 | 1 | OFERUN08 | |
PCOD8056793 | phi | PHI | 1 | BEFMAC |
PCOD8307701 | kfi | KFI | 1 | JILWOR |
PCOD8129205 | 4,4T101 | 1 | PAPHOF | |
PCOD8047025 | 4,4,4T33 | 1 | MUPLAL | |
PCOD8324260 | SFW | 1 | OSUSIG | |
PCOD8000235 | 4,4T146 | 1 | NIJTUX | |
PCOD8146884 | Sqc973 | 1 | DOKJIX | |
PCOD8054148 | afy | AFY | 1 | COQNIF |
PCOD8302308 | tzs | 1 | OXEVOE | |
PCOD8125166 | 4,4,4T43 | 1 | DOHBAE | |
PCOD8125020 | 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4T18 | 1 | SUWZUH | |
PCOD8324829 | MEI | 1 | YUTFAW | |
PCOD8078892 | USI | 1 | IJIGOX | |
PCOD8118604 | 4,4T16 | 1 | TOQBUW | |
PCOD8126974 | 4,4,4,4T72 | 1 | SOCJUR | |
PCOD8111377 | 4,4T168 | 1 | QUMJAL | |
PCOD8129307 | 4,4,4T159 | 1 | MURFEM | |
PCOD8054312 | 4,4T21 | 1 | GIMWAB | |
PCOD8095768 | sat | SAT | 1 | PAQJUM |
PCOD8305504 | 4,4,4T60 | 1 | HABREJ | |
PCOD8308885 | 4,4T131 | 1 | QUBWIU | |
PCOD8308885 | zec | 1 | HICGEG | |
PCOD8129062 | sie | 1 | BEFLUW | |
PCOD8123580 | ZON | 1 | NETRIN | |
PCOD8121794 | sqc3848 | 1 | CODSOF | |
PCOD8111380 | 4,4T23 | 1 | ICIZAV | |
PCOD8128437 | sta-4,4-Cccm | 1 | EMAYUM | |
PCOD8122913 | 4,4T255 | 1 | VALVEM | |
PCOD8125830 | AFN | 1 | AXUPEO | |
PCOD8134958 | 4,4,4T68 | 1 | LUZZEM | |
PCOD8187865 | itv | 1 | GUPCUQ02 | |
PCOD8047418 | 4,4T46 | 1 | BOQTEI | |
PCOD8187185 | umr | 1 | SAZPOB | |
PCOD8056515 | ntn | 1 | USOXIL | |
PCOD8011377 | jbw | JBW | 1 | IGUCIX |
PCOD8171653 | byl | 1 | GUKLOO | |
PCOD8308073 | uox | 1 | WEMWAP | |
PCOD8136892 | 4,4,4,4T5 | 1 | NISPEL | |
PCOD8014403 | 4,4,4,4,4,4T1 | 1 | IGEXUN | |
PCOD8036144 | 4,4,4T81 | 1 | QUPHOZ | |
PCOD8228636 | att | ATT | 1 | FECCIZ |
PCOD8076973 | BOF | 1 | BAXMUI |
Table 3 lists 11 IZA topologies not found in the PCOD database, but present in MOFs. Also listed are the two interrupted structures not eligible for inclusion in the PCOD database. The first column provides the IZA code of each framework. The second column provides the number of actual structures found. The third column provides the ICSD reference code.
IZA code | Number of structures | CSD ref. code (example) |
---|---|---|
ABW | 397 | LABPIP |
ATN | 8 | EYUKOZ |
BSV | 7 | XUWTEO |
CGF | 1 | NIVRAL |
-CLO | 1 | ZAZNUL |
CZP | 2 | XUWSUD |
DFO | 2 | SIHFAQ |
-LIT | 1 | GADWAL |
LTA | 8 | HITYEP |
PUN | 1 | RUMXUT |
RWY | 10 | MUNBAY |
SOS | 2 | MANKIW |
WEI | 3 | FAHQEN |
Three very recently discovered new zeolites, EMM-37,18 ECNU-21,19 and PST-30,20 also have frameworks that were predicted in the PCOD. Of these, PST-30 has a framework that was a priori designed from known building blocks of existing frameworks using rational design of a structure directing agent.20
It is interesting to note that of the 118 MOF topologies found in the PCOD, 46 are also in the IZA database. Conversely there are 11 MOF topologies present in the IZA database but not found in the PCOD. In addition, there are two interrupted MOF structures that are also found in the IZA database.
The ToposPro approach thus has enabled us to exhaustively and unequivocally identify existing zeolites, zeolite-like materials, and MOFs that have been predicted by the purely theoretical and unbiased methods used to generate the PCOD. This is very promising as it is an indication of the practical synthesizability of these hitherto predicted compounds. This in turn motivates the development and application of algorithms to further mine predicted structure databases for novel materials with desired or tailored properties.24,33 We have included the PCOD topologies into the ToposPro TTD Collection as a separate predicted zeolite database and provided a remote access to the database through our TopCryst service. One can use ToposPro to generate the underlying net for any zeolite-like framework and then check if the framework was already generated as a predicted zeolite.
Our analysis has not considered chirality. Only one of the two possible chiral forms for non-centrosymmetric structures is included in the PCOD database. The other chiral form is found by inversion.
Footnote |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: A list of the IZA zeolites that are present in the PCOD. See DOI: 10.1039/d0ra01888k |
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020 |