Indium metal-organic frameworks based on pyridylcarboxylate ligands and their potential applications

Indium metal-organic frameworks (In-MOFs) based on pyridylcarboxylate ligands represent a subclass of MOFs featuring diverse structures, a high stability, and various properties. This review discusses the different aspects of In-MOFs including their design, synthesis and structures as well as their typical potential applications in adsorption and separation, catalysis, and chemical sensors. Importantly, the effect of pyridine on the properties and stability of frameworks has been carefully studied. The introduction of a pyridine group not only significantly enriches clusters of In3+ ions, but also enables flexible, controllably synthesized ionic or neutral frameworks to be fabricated. Based on this, we suggest that this type of In-metal organic framework (MOF) should receive more attention in the field of MOF design.