Crystalline porous metal phosphonates derived from tetratopic phosphonic acid linker molecules

Abstract

Porous metal phosphonates (PMPs), a subclass of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), offer unique advantages due to their enhanced thermal, chemical, and mechanical stability arising from strong metal-phosphonate bonds. This chapter explores the use of tetratopic phosphonic acids as linker molecules in PMP synthesis, highlighting their potential to overcome challenges in creating porous, well-ordered structures. While PMPs constitute a small fraction of documented MOFs due to synthetic complexities and diverse coordination modes, the strategic design of aromatic phosphonic acid linkers with specific geometries offers a promising avenue. We provide an overview of tetratopic aromatic phosphonic acids, their synthesis, and their impact on PMP structures. By controlling rigidity, the number of phosphonate groups, and their arrangement, the formation of amorphous or densely packed compounds can be mitigated, paving the way for novel PMP materials.