Discrete Water Hexamers and Template-Assisted Molecular Recognition in an Elastic Zincophosphate Lattice

Water molecules and terephthalic acid, respectively, exist as a self-assembled monolayer of cyclic (H2O)6 clusters and (TA)∞ chiral chains between the zincophosphate sheets (in blue wires); the irremovable template H3tren3+ ions (in purple wires) are dynamic and could translate back and forth on the sheets during the conversion of the supramolecule contained in one another.