A Porous and Interpenetrated Metal–Organic Framework Comprising Tetranuclear Iron^III–Oxo Clusters and Tripodal Organic Carboxylates and Its Implications for (3,8)-Coordinated Networks

Abstract

A porous metal–organic framework (MOF), Fe 4 (μ 3 -O) 2 (BTB) 8/3 (DMF) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ·(DMF) 10 (H 2 O) 2 ( 1 ) (BTB = benzene-1,3,5-tribenzoate, DMF = N, N -dimethylformamide) has two interpenetrating 3D frameworks composed of fused cages and shows a stronger affinity for CO 2 than most other known highly porous MOFs. The unique tetranuclear iron–oxo clusters act as 8-connectors, which are linked by 3-connecting BTBs, to give a partially augmented the net (using the symbolism of O’Keeffe and co-workers). The underlying implications for (3,8)-coordinated networks are also discussed in relation to the framework structure of 1 .