Themed collection Metal-Organic Frameworks and Hybrid Materials

Welcome to this CrystEngComm themed issue on metal–organic frameworks and hybrid materials.

We review the current state of the art in molecular simulations and modelling of MOFs for hydrogen storage.

After twenty years of vigorous R&D, where are MOFs headed?

Insight into the structural variation of metal organic framework materials upon hydration.

The fabrication of metal nanoparticles in porous host matrices, especially metal–organic frameworks, has become of great interest in the last years and will be comprehensively discussed in this article.

This highlight describes the crystal structures and network topology of thiazole- and thiazolidine-containing MOFs and CPs along with their applications in the fields of CO₂ adsorption, luminescence, magnetism and heterogeneous catalysis.

A pyridinedicarboxylate-containing Zn-MOF structure was modulated using pyridine and 4,4′-bipyridine to generate highly porous N-doped carbon adsorbents for CO₂ capture.

We report the low elastic modulus of a zeolitic MOF, along with stabilization against structural collapse by filling with solvent.

The fabrication and non-covalent modification of highly oriented thin films of zeolite like-metal–organic framework (ZMOF) with rho topology are reported.

Charge partition between the metal and the ligand governs the geometry evolution in hybrid perovskites.

The special water adsorption behaviour of CAU-10-H makes it ideal for application in adsorption driven heat pumps and chillers.

The negative linear compressibility behaviour of the MIL-53 family of materials is experimentally demonstrated.

The gas-sorption properties of a high surface area α-magnesium formate with an expanded unit cell are reported. The material is stable in NH₃ and shows very high CH₄/N₂ (5.2) selectivity.

Two recently synthesized bipyrazole-based metal organic frameworks were characterized and their different affinity toward small molecules was interpreted using ab initio simulations.

Introduction of functional groups into an isoreticular series of MOFs may be complicated by noncovalent interactions between interpenetrated nets inducing differing topologies.

For the design of metal–organic frameworks with specific properties, a chromatographic method to quantitatively determine their Lewis acid base characteristics was demonstrated with HKUST-1.

A copolymerisation approach was successfully utilised to create the first highly accessible, non-interpenetrated MOF comprising a triarylborane carboxylate linker.

Two novel metal–organic frameworks Fe-/Ga-CFA-6 based on trivalent metal centers and 4,4′-bipyrazolate linkers are presented and characterized in this work.

A detailed study on the formation mechanism, local and long-range structures of surfactant-directed lamellar zinc imidazolates is presented.

Copper(I) tricyanomethanide shows exceptional mechanical and coordination flexibility in response to temperature and guest sorption.

The reductive coordination replication of V₂O₅ patterns provides the vanadium(III) species required to build the mesostructures of [V(OH)ndc]_n.

Porous RhoZMOF is a negatively charged zeolite-like MOF material susceptible to post-synthesis modification by an ion-exchange process replacing as-synthesized organic cations with transition metals.

Vapochromic properties of Cu(II) coordination polymers are explained on the basis of first principles calculations.

Three new Zr-MOFs based on aliphatic linker molecules and the role of the anions present during synthesis that affect their framework structures are reported.

The catalytic activity of the Zr-benzenedicarboxylate (Zr-BDC) UiO-66 increases by using synthesis modulators as trifluoroacetate (TFA) or hydrochloric acid (HCl), which can be removed post-synthetically.

Functionalization of the MIL-100(Cr) metal–organic framework with alkylamines (ethylenediamine and N,N′-dimethylethylenediamine) improves carbon dioxide sorption properties, especially in the case of ethylenediamine.

Elastic properties and acoustic dissipation associated with the disorder–order ferroelectric transition in a single crystal metal–organic framework (MOF), [NH₄][Zn(HCOO)₃], have been investigated using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) in the temperature range between 10 K and 300 K.

By screening the possible range of isoreticular isomers, the structure of copper paddle-wheel-based metal–organic frameworks with nbo-b topology can be predicted and the formation of different phases can be rationalized.

The accurate location of CO₂ guest molecules as a function of pressure has been determined in the prototypical flexible MOF MIL-53 (Fe).

We use density functional theory to reveal the detailed elastic properties of two topical ZIF materials comprising the same chemical composition but different crystalline structures. ZIF-4 was found to exhibit a negative Poisson's ratio, representing the first ‘auxetic-ZIF’ to be identified.

Isomerisation of an NO₂ ligand coordinated to Ni in a molecular crystal is explored using a range of quantum chemical techniques.

The hydration of nanoporous materials is relevant to many fundamental and industrial applications.

A novel biocompatible and bioactive zinc azelate metal–organic framework (BioMIL-5) was hydrothermally synthesized with interesting long-term antibacterial properties.

2-Fluoro-1,3,5-benzene-tricarboxylic acid (Fbtc) is used as new linker for metal–organic frameworks and leads to three MOFs UHM-31, -32 and -33.