Kinetic Control of Interpenetration in Fe-Biphenyl-4,4 '-dicarboxylate Metal-Organic Frameworks by Coordination and Oxidation Modulation

Phase control in the self-assembly of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is often a case of trial and error; judicious control over a number of synthetic variables is required to select the desired topology and control features such as interpenetration and defectivity. Herein, we present a comprehensive investigation of self-assembly in the Fe–biphenyl-4,4′-dicarboxylate system, demonstrating that coordination modulation can reliably tune between the kinetic product, noninterpenetrated MIL-88D(Fe), and the thermodynamic product, two-fold interpenetrated MIL-126(Fe). Density functional theory simulations reveal that correlated disorder of the terminal anions on the metal clusters results in hydrogen bonding between adjacent nets in the interpenetrated phase and this is the thermodynamic driving force for its formation. Coordination modulation slows self-assembly and therefore selects the thermodynamic product MIL-126(Fe), while offering fine control over defectivity, inducing mesoporosity, but electron microscopy shows MIL-88D(Fe) persists in many samples despite not being evident by diffraction. Interpenetration control is also demonstrated using the 2,2′-bipyridine-5,5′-dicarboxylate linker; it is energetically prohibitive for it to adopt the twisted conformation required to form the interpenetrated phase, although multiple alternative phases are identified due to additional coordination of Fe cations to its N donors. Finally, we introduce oxidation modulation—the use of metal precursors in different oxidation states from that found in the final MOF—to kinetically control self-assembly. Combining coordination and oxidation modulation allows the synthesis of pristine MIL-126(Fe) with BET surface areas close to the predicted maximum for the first time, suggesting that combining the two may be a powerful methodology for the controlled self-assembly of high-valent MOFs

Tuning the Electronic Properties in Ruthenium-Quinone Complexes through Metal Coordination and Substitution at the Bridge

A rare example of a mononuclear complex [(bpy)(2)Ru(L--H(1))](ClO4), 1(ClO4) and dinuclear complexes [(bpy)(2)Ru(-L--2H(1))Ru(bpy)(2)](ClO4)(2), 2(ClO4)(2), [(bpy)(2)Ru(-L--2H(2))Ru(bpy)(2)](ClO4)(2), 3(ClO4)(2), and [(bpy)(2)Ru(-L--2H(3))Ru(bpy)(2)](ClO4)(2), 4(ClO4)(2) (bpy=2,2-bipyridine, L-1=2,5-di-(isopropyl-amino)-1,4-benzoquinone, L-2=2,5-di-(benzyl-amino)-1,4-benzoquinone, and L-3=2,5-di-[2,4,6-(trimethyl)-anilino]-1,4-benzoquinone) with the symmetrically substituted p-quinone ligands, L, are reported. Bond-length analysis within the potentially bridging ligands in both the mono- and dinuclear complexes shows a localization of bonds, and binding to the metal centers through a phenolate-type O- and an immine/imminium-type neutral N donor. For the mononuclear complex 1(ClO4), this facilitates strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding and leads to the imminium-type character of the noncoordinated nitrogen atom. The dinuclear complexes display two oxidation and several reduction steps in acetonitrile solutions. In contrast, the mononuclear complex 1(+) exhibits just one oxidation and several reduction steps. The redox processes of 1(1+) are strongly dependent on the solvent. The one-electron oxidized forms 2(3+), 3(3+), and 4(3+) of the dinuclear complexes exhibit strong absorptions in the NIR region. Weak NIR absorption bands are observed for the one-electron reduced forms of all complexes. A combination of structural data, electrochemistry, UV/Vis/NIR/EPR spectroelectrochemistry, and DFT calculations is used to elucidate the electronic structures of the complexes. Our DFT results indicate that the electronic natures of the various redox states of the complexes in vacuum differ greatly from those in a solvent continuum. We show here the tuning possibilities that arise upon substituting [O] for the isoelectronic [NR] groups in such quinone ligands