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Updated: Jun 12, 2025

Author Spotlight: Experimental Approaches for the Synthesis of Low-Valent Metal-Organic Frameworks from Multitopic Phosphine Linkers
Published on: May 12, 2023
Synthesis of Metal-Organic Cages via Orthogonal Bond Cleavage in 3D Metal-Organic Frameworks
Sara Ruiz-Relaño1,2, Dongsik Nam1,2, Jorge Albalad1,2
1Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
Herein we address the question of whether a supramolecular finite metal-organic structure such as a cage or metal-organic polyhedron (MOP) can be synthesized via controlled cleavage of a three-dimensional (3D) metal-organic structure. To demonstrate this, we report the synthesis of a Cu(II)-based cuboctahedral MOP through orthogonal olefinic bond cleavage of the cavities of a 3D, Cu(II)-based, metal-organic framework (MOF). Additionally, we demonstrate that controlling the ozonolysis conditions used for the cleavage enables Clip-off Chemistry synthesis of two cuboctahedral MOPs that differ by their external functionalization: one in which all 24 external groups represent a mixture of aldehydes, carboxylic acids, acetals and esters, and one in which all are aldehydes.
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