Homochiral Cluster-Organic Frameworks Constructed from Enantiopure Lactate Derivatives

Two
enantiopure organic linkers ((R)-H3CIA
and (S)-H3CIA) derived from lactic
acid have been synthesized and used to construct four pairs of homochiral
metal–organic frameworks (HMOFs) with polymetallic building
blocks. Crystallographic analysis indicates that H3CIA
ligands can connect tetranuclear zinc units into kgd type
layered structure, while the introduction of nitrogen heterocycle
auxiliary ligands into this system gives rise to the formation of
three-dimensional homochiral MOFs with different structural topologies.
Physical characteristics of these complexes are also carried out,
including thermal stabilities, solid-state circular dichroism (CD),
and photoluminescent properties. Our results highlight the effective
method to apply inexpensive and nontoxic chiral ligands to prepare
interesting HMOFs.