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Updated: Jan 11, 2026
Author Spotlight: Functionalizing Metal-Organic Frameworks: Advancements, Challenges, and the Power of Post-Synthetic Ligand Exchange
Published on: June 23, 2023
Structural Interconversions and Guest Binding Properties of Tetrakis(formylpyridine)-Based Pseudo-Cubic and
Yuyin Du1, Tanya K Ronson1, Yuchong Yang1
1Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1EW, U.K.
Abstract:
Here, we report a new tetrakis(formylpyridine) subcomponent that was designed to assemble with anilines and ZnII to afford a set of structurally distinct metal-organic cage structure types. By modulating the metal-to-ligand stoichiometry, we obtained a pseudo-cubic Zn8L6 cage and an open Zn6L3 trigonal prism, the former featuring a diastereomeric configuration of faces and vertices that had not been previously observed. Addition of a tritopic subcomponent yielded a Zn6L3L'2 heteroleptic capped trigonal prism, which could also be prepared via a combination of the homoleptic cages formed by the two individual ligands. The capped trigonal prism encapsulated the pollutant perfluorobutanesulfonate and the oxidant tetracyanoquinodimethane, both technologically relevant guests.
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