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Updated: Dec 15, 2025

Author Spotlight: Magnetometric Characterization of Intermediates in the Solid-State Electrochemistry of Redox-Active Metal-Organic Frameworks
Published on: June 9, 2023
Guest-Responsive Reversible Electron Transfer in a Crystalline Porous Framework Supported by a Dynamic Building Node
Nivedita Sikdar1, Arpan Hazra1, Debabrata Samanta1
1Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, School of Advanced Materials (SAMat), Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, 560064, India.
Abstract:
We demonstrate a redox-active, crystalline donor-acceptor (D-A) assembly in which the electron transfer (ET) process can be reversibly switched. This ET process, induced by a guest-responsive structural transformation at room temperature, is realized in a porous, metal-organic framework (MOF), having anthracene (D)-naphthalenediimide (A) as struts. A control MOF structure obtained by a solvent-assisted linker exchange (SALE) method, replacing an acceptor strut with a neutral one, supported the switchable electronic states in the D-A MOF. Combined investigations with X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy, and theoretical analyses revealed the dynamic metal paddle-wheel node as a critical unit for controlling structural flexibility and the corresponding unprecedented ET process.
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