Urea-functionalized MOFs

Alireza Azhdari Tehrani

Abstract

Recently, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were introduced as promising candidates for applications in diverse areas. Compared to other porous materials, MOFs have given chemists the opportunity to tune the topology, pore size and functionality by rational selection of organic linkers and inorganic metal centers. Owing to this feature, MOFs containing functional groups, such as urea, amide, imine, and other groups are currently in the spotlight due to their potential applications in different areas including molecular sensing and catalysis. It has been shown that incorporating supramolecular recognition units into the MOF backbone has enabled the docking of specific guests and is advantageous to create specific responses. Based on this strategy, we are designing a series of MOFs based on organic linkers containing urea functional group.  It  has been revealed  that  the  match  of  the  complementary  binding  sites  of receptor and substrates allows the formation of tight hydrogen bonding and may account for the sensitivity of these frameworks to the respective substrates. The results  that will be presented  in crystallography 2020 provide  some  support for the  approach  taken  by  the  chemists  to  broaden  the applicability of MOFs through rational functionalization of the linking units.

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