Chemistry and Applications of Metal-Organic Materials

Developing the synthetic control required for the intentional 3-D arrangement of atoms remains a holy grail in crystal engineering and materials chemistry. The explosive development of metal-organic materials in recent decades has shed light on the above problem. Their properties can be tuned by varying the organic and/or inorganic building units. In addition, their crystallinity makes it possible to determine their structures via the X-ray diffraction method. This dissertation will focus on the chemistry and applications of two kinds of metal-organic materials, namely, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and metal-organic polyhedra (MOP). MOFs are coordination polymers. Their permanent porosity makes them a good ?gas sponge?. In the first section, an isoreticular series of MOFs with dendritic hexacarboxylate ligands has been synthesized and characterized structurally. One of the MOFs in this series, PCN-68, has a Langmuir surface area as high as 6033 m2 g-1. The MOFs also possess excellent gas (H2, CH4, and CO2) adsorption capacity. In the second section, a NbO-type MOF, PCN-46, was constructed based on a polyyne-coupled di-isophthalate linker formed in situ. Its lasting porosity was confirmed by N2 adsorption isotherm, and its H2, CH4 and CO2 adsorption capacity was examined at 77 K and 298 K over a wide pressure range (0-110 bar). Unlike MOFs, MOP are discrete porous coordination nanocages. In the third section, a MOP covered with bulky triisopropylsilyl group was synthesized, which exhibits a thermosensitive gate opening property. This material demonstrates a molecular sieving effect at a certain temperature range, which could be used for gas separation purpose. In the last section, a MOP covered with alkyne group was synthesized through kinetic control. The postsynthetic modification via click reaction with azide-terminated polyethylene glycol turned them into metallomicelles, which showed controlled release of an anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil. In summary, two kinds of metal-organic materials have been discussed in this dissertation, with the applications in gas storage, gas separation, and drug delivery. These findings greatly enrich the chemistry and applications of metal-organic materials.