A reticular chemistry approach to constructing metal–organic frameworks with hmc topology using organic cage building blocks

Abstract

A molecular design strategy for constructing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) from preorganized organic cage building blocks is presented. Two frameworks, MOF-POC-1 and MOF-POC-2, were synthesized and found to crystallize in the cubic Fmm space group, adopting an hmc topology generated by using 6-connected carboxylic acid organic cages as building blocks. Notably, MOF-POC-2 was observed to exhibit intrinsic porosity and gas adsorption, highlighting the potential of employing pre-organized organic cages as modular components for the rational design of highly symmetric, porous MOFs with tunable functionalities.