Coordination-Induced Band Gap Reduction in a Metal-Organic Framework.

Herein, we report on the synthesis of a microporous, three-dimensional phosphonate metal-organic framework (MOF) with the composition Cu (H -MTPPA)  ⋅ 2 NMP (H -MTPPA=methane tetra-p-phenylphosphonic acid and NMP=N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone). This MOF, termed TUB1, has a unique one-dimensional inorganic building unit composed of square planar and distorted trigonal bipyramidal copper atoms. It possesses a (calculated) BET surface area of 766.

Does Confinement Enable Methane Hydrate Growth at Low Pressures? Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Natural methane hydrates are estimated to be the largest source of unexploited hydrocarbon fuel. The ideal conditions for methane hydrate formation are low temperatures and high pressures. On the other hand, recent experimental studies suggest that porous materials, thanks to their confinement effects, can enable methane hydrate formation at milder conditions, although there has not been a consensus on this.

A Nanotubular Metal-Organic Framework with a Narrow Bandgap from Extended Conjugation*.

A one-dimensional nanotubular metal-organic framework (MOF) [Ni(Cu-H TPPA)]⋅2 (CH ) NH (H TPPA=5,10,15,20-tetrakis[p-phenylphosphonic acid] porphyrin) constructed by using the arylphosphonic acid H TPPA is reported. The structure of this MOF, known as GTUB-4, was solved by using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and its geometric accessible surface area was calculated to be 1102 m  g , making it the phosphonate MOF with the highest reported surface area. Due to the extended conjugation of its porphyrin core, GTUB-4 possesses narrow indirect and direct bandgaps (1.