Metal-organic and covalent organic polyhedra for molecularly templated confinement of atomically defined luminescent metal halide compounds

Having achieved successful results with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), we explore metal-organic and covalent organic polyhedra (MOPs and COPs) for the formation of confined atomically defined solid-state structures within the cavities of the polyhedra by incorporation of main group metal halide (MH) compounds. MH materials are known to exhibit exceptional luminescence and other optoelectronic properties. Single crystals of the MOPs and COPs can be employed as molecular templates for crystallizing MHs within the cavities (by analogy with MOFs). This would enable rational synthesis of desired solids and give access to structures which are not known to form otherwise, and thus further tailoring required optoelectronic properties. We thus anticipate that such molecular templating of the MH crystallization (within MOPs and COPs, as well as metal-organic and covalent organic frameworks) will evolve into an attractive materials design strategy.