Novel design strategies in the bottom-up synthesis of porous zirconium phosphonates

Zirconium-based metal phosphonates (PMPs) are emerging hybrid materials with diverse structural and chemical properties, exhibiting robust stability under harsh conditions. These characteristics make them promising for catalytic and adsorptive applications. However, their tendency to form disordered, densely layered structures with limited porosity hinders synthesis control and structural predictability. This study introduces a novel bottom-up approach using pre-designed Zr6-oxo clusters partially capped with phosphonic acids as inorganic building units for PMPs. The strategy involves crosslinking these units, offering control over local geometry and framework assembly. Preliminary results show successful preservation of the Zr6-cluster topology when modifying the organic 'capping' ligand chemistry. X-ray total scattering and PDF analysis are crucial for unraveling the short-to-intermediate range ordering post-synthesis, providing insights into the structural properties.