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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

A Technical Guide for Performing Spectroscopic Measurements on Metal-Organic Frameworks
Published on: April 28, 2023
Enhanced dihydrogen adsorption in symmetry-lowered metal-porphyrin-containing frameworks
Yong-Hyun Kim1, Y Y Sun, Woon Ih Choi
1National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA. yong.hyun.kim@kaist.ac.kr
Abstract:
Porphyrin is a very important component of natural and artificial catalysis and oxygen delivery in blood. Here, we report that, based on first-principles density-functional calculations, a hydrogen molecule can be adsorbed non-dissociatively onto Ti-, V-, and Fe-porphyrins, similar to oxygen adsorption in heme-containing proteins, with a significant energy gain, greater than 0.3 eV per H(2). The dihydrogen-heme complex will be non-magnetic, as is oxyhemoglobin. In contrast to the backward electron donation of Fe(III)-O(2)(-) in oxyhemoglobin, the dihydrogen binding originates from electron donation from H(2) to the Fe(II). We have identified that the local symmetry of the transition metal center of porphyrins uniquely determines the binding strength, and, thus, one can even manipulate the strength by intentionally and systematically breaking symmetry.
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