Transformations of molecules and secondary building units to materials: a bottom-up approach

A variety of complex inorganic solids with open-framework and other fascinating architectures, involving silicate, phosphate, and other anions, have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. The past few years have also seen the successful synthesis and characterization of several molecular compounds that can act as precursors to form open-framework and other materials, some of them resembling secondary building units (SBUs). Transformations of rationally synthesized molecular compounds to materials constitute an important new direction in both structural inorganic chemistry and materials chemistry and enable possible pathways for the rational design of materials. In this article, we indicate the potential of such a bottom-up approach, by briefly examining the transformations of molecular silicates and phosphates. We discuss stable organosilanols and silicate secondary building units, phosphorous acids and phosphate secondary building units, di- and triesters of phosphoric acids, and molecular phosphate clusters and polymers. We also examine the transformations of metal dialkyl phosphates and molecular metal phosphates.