Bucky-built MOFs

Buckyballs can be used to build up a novel two-dimensional metal–organic framework (MOF). Unlike previous fullerene-based MOFs that incorporate fullerenes into pores or between layers, Ping Peng and colleagues at the University of Texas at El Paso, US, have used innovative fullerene derivatives as structure-directing linkers.

The fullerene derivatives have two pairs of phenyl pyridine groups attached to opposite ends of the C₆₀ structure. Each molecule contributes one of its pyridyl group nitrogen atoms to form a rectangular-shaped ligand with three other hexakisfullerene derivatives, which coordinate to the same cadmium ion. Series of these coordination complexes produce two-dimensional sheets, with uncoordinated fullerene molecules filling the space between layers by sitting in the small pores created by the framework.

The group are now in the process of building a three-dimensional framework by joining the two-dimensional fullerene layer metal centres together using dipyridine-based pillars.