MOFClassifier: A Machine Learning Approach for Validating Computation-Ready Metal–Organic Frameworks

The computational discovery and design of new crystalline materials, particularly metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), heavily rely on high-quality, “computation-ready” structural data. However, recent studies have revealed significant error rates within existing MOF databases, posing a critical data problem that hinders efficient high-throughput computational screening. While rule-based algorithms like MOSAEC, MOFChecker, and the Chen and Manz method (Chen–Manz) have been developed to address this, they often suffer from inherent limitations and misclassification of structures. To overcome this challenge, we developed MOFClassifier, a novel machine learning approach built upon a positive-unlabeled crystal graph convolutional neural network (PU-CGCNN) model. MOFClassifier learns intricate patterns from perfect crystal structures to predict a “crystal-likeness score” (CLscore), effectively classifying MOFs as computation-ready. Our model achieves an ROC value of 0.979 (previous best value 0.912) and, importantly, can identify subtle structural and chemical errors that are undetectable by current rule-based methods. By accurately recovering previously misclassified false-negative structures, the MOFClassifier reduces the risk of overlooking promising material candidates in large-scale computational screening campaigns. This user-friendly tool is freely available and has been integrated into the preparation workflow for the updated CoRE MOF DB 2025 v1.0, contributing to the accelerated computational discovery of MOF materials.