Structural Induction Effect of a Zwitterion Pyridiniumolate for Metal–Organic Frameworks

It
is still an enormous challenge to obtain the metal–organic
frameworks (MOFs) with specific properties by tuning their structures.
Here we first reported that the structures of MOFs could be tuned
by adding certain amount of zwitterion pyridiniumolate. To demonstrate
the inductive effect, two series of assembly experiments were performed
using different metal ions, namely, Cd­(II) and Mn­(II). The experimental
results revealed that the zwitterion pyridiniumloate only acted as
a structural induction agent (SIA), which did not exist in the aimed
compounds. The SIAs could effectively tune the framework aperture
or promote coordination and further tune the properties of MOFs without
any removal or exchange after the synthesis. Therefore, the results
could not only immensely expand the syntheses and structural diversity
of MOFs with the fixed metal ions and organic ligands but also afford
the possibility and effective convenience for tuning the properties
of MOFs in the functional material research fields.