Beam-sensitive metal-organic framework structure determination by microcrystal electron diffraction

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Crystallography
• Chemistry

Background:

• High-resolution X-ray diffraction typically requires large single crystals.
• Many metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are sensitive to electron beams, complicating analysis.
• Electron microscopy and diffraction offer an alternative for MOF structure determination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) for analyzing beam-sensitive MOFs.
• To determine the structure of ZIF-8 using MicroED from nanocrystalline material.

Main Methods:

• Microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) was employed.
• High-resolution electron diffraction data were collected from ZIF-8 nanocrystals.
• The structure of ZIF-8 was refined from the collected diffraction data.

Main Results:

• The structure of ZIF-8 was determined to 0.87 Å resolution from a single nanocrystal.
• The refined structure showed good agreement with published X-ray crystallography data.
• MicroED proved effective for analyzing beam-sensitive MOF structures.

Conclusions:

• MicroED is a viable tool for structural analysis of beam-sensitive MOFs.
• This technique enables structure determination from nano and microcrystalline samples.
• MicroED provides a valuable alternative when large single crystals are unavailable.