A low symmetry cluster meets a low symmetry ligand to sharply boost MOF thermal stability

Abstract

A new approach in which a low symmetry cluster meets a low symmetry ligand to sharply boost the thermal stability of a MOF via additional inter-linker interactions is presented for the first time, leading to the successful synthesis of a novel binuclear Co-based MOF, {[Co₂(L₁)₂DMF]·1.5DMF·0.75MeOH·1.5H₂O}_∞ (H₂L₁ = 5-(pyridin-3-yl) isophthalic acid, NJU-Bai62: NJU-Bai for Nanjing University Bai group), with exceptional thermal stability of up to 450 °C. This work may open up a new avenue for constructing robust MOFs from abundant, unstable, and low symmetry binuclear clusters, which have usually been ignored by most MOF chemists.