Metal-Metalloporphyrin Framework Modified with Flexible tert-Butyl Groups for Selective Gas Adsorption

The rational design of multitopic organic linkers and access to the single-crystal structures of their metal-organic frameworks violate a long-standing thesis where it is expected to steer the system toward multifunctional MOFs. Here, a porphyrin that is covalently functionalized with pendant tert-butyl groups is used as a ligand having conformational freedom. The utilization of this custom-designed porphyrinic derivative in MOF synthesis yields a novel metal-metalloporphyrin framework (MMPF-14). As expected, the channels of MMPF-14, which are filled with flexible tert-butyl groups, act as molecular gates for the selective adsorption of gas molecules.