Issue 21, 2020

Cubes on a string: a series of linear coordination polymers with cubane-like nodes and dicarboxylate linkers

Abstract

A series of semicrystalline and amorphous one-dimensional (1D) polymeric chains consisting of cubane-like CoII4L4 units (L = S-1,2-bis(benzimidazol-2-yl)ethanol) and dicarboxylates were synthesized and characterized by single crystal diffraction and X-ray total scattering. The polycationic chains are composed of [Co4L4(dicarboxylate)]2+ monomeric units, while one molecular dicarboxylate counterion is balancing the charge of each monomer. The linear compound series has five members, and the crystal structures were solved for [Co4L4(tph)](tph) and [Co4L4(ndc)](ndc), where tph = terephthalate and ndc = 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylate. Partly crystalline compounds were produced by slow assembly at elevated temperature (over days), while the amorphous compounds were formed by fast precipitation (within minutes). Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis based on X-ray total scattering data reveals the presence of the cubane-like entity in both the amorphous and semicrystalline samples. While the powders are non-porous, precipitation is a fast and versatile method to produce compounds with cubane-like centres with moderate surface areas of 17–49 m2 g−1 allowing for surface chemical reactions. The powders have a high concentration of Lewis base sites as verified by their selective adsorption of CO2 over N2. The use of an amorphous cubane-like polymer for the electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction was demonstrated.

Graphical abstract: Cubes on a string: a series of linear coordination polymers with cubane-like nodes and dicarboxylate linkers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 fev 2020
Accepted
12 mai 2020
First published
13 mai 2020

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 11601-11611

Cubes on a string: a series of linear coordination polymers with cubane-like nodes and dicarboxylate linkers

C. Deville, M. Folkjær, P. Reinholdt, M. S. Hvid, P. Lamagni, K. Borup, Z. Sun, J. V. Lauritsen, V. McKee, K. M. Ø. Jensen and N. Lock, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 11601 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR01503B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements