Balancing Mechanical Stability and Ultrahigh Porosity in Crystalline Framework Materials

A new mesoporous metal-organic framework (MOF; DUT-60) was conceptually designed in silico using Zn₄ O⁶⁺ nodes, ditopic and tritopic linkers to explore the stability limits of framework architectures with ultrahigh porosity. The robust ith-d topology of DUT-60 provides an average bulk and shear modulus (4.97 GPa and 0.50 GPa, respectively) for this ultra-porous framework, a key prerequisite to suppress pore collapse during desolvation. Subsequently, a cluster precursor approach, resulting in minimal side product formation in the solvothermal synthesis, was used to produce DUT-60, a new crystalline framework with the highest recorded accessible pore volume (5.02 cm³  g^-1 ) surpassing all known crystalline framework materials.