A new zirconium inorganic building brick forming metal organic frameworks with exceptional stability.

TLDR: The Zr-MOFs presented in this work have the toughness needed for industrial applications; decomposition temperature above 500 degrees C and resistance to most chemicals, and they remain crystalline even after exposure to 10 tons/cm2 of external pressure.

Abstract: Porous crystals are strategic materials with industrial applications within petrochemistry, catalysis, gas storage, and selective separation Their unique properties are based on the molecular-scale porous character However, a principal limitation of zeolites and similar oxide-based materials is the relatively small size of the pores, typically in the range of medium-sized molecules, limiting their use in pharmaceutical and fine chemical applications Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) provided a breakthrough in this respect New MOFs appear at a high and an increasing pace, but the appearances of new, stable inorganic building bricks are rare Here we present a new zirconium-based inorganic building brick that allows the synthesis of very high surface area MOFs with unprecedented stability The high stability is based on the combination of strong Zr−O bonds and the ability of the inner Zr6-cluster to rearrange reversibly upon removal or addition of μ3-OH groups, without any changes in the connecting carbox