Browsing by Author "Price, DJ"

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    Guest adsorption in the nanoporous metal–organic framework Cu3(1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate)2: combined in situ x-ray diffraction and vapor sorption
    (American Chemical Society, 2014-07-23) Peterson, VK; Southon, PD; Halder, GJ; Price, DJ; Bevitt, JJ; Kepert, CJ
    The structure of the nanoporous metal–organic framework Cu3(BTC)2 (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate) with a variety of molecular guests was studied in situ using single crystal X-ray diffraction. By collecting crystal structure data for a series of guests within the same host crystal, insights into the molecular interactions underpinning guest adsorption processes have been gained. Adsorption behaviors are influenced strongly by both enthalpic and entropic thermodynamic, as well as interpore steric (size-exclusion) effects, and we note correlations between guest attributes and these effects. Vapor adsorption measurements revealed a guest uptake capacity inversely proportional to guest size. Correspondingly, structural results show that guests reside in the smallest pores accessible to them. Interpore steric effects for larger guests cause these to be excluded from the smallest pores, and this corresponds to lower total uptake. Both hydrophilic and lipophilic small guests adsorb favorably into the 5 Å diameter smallest pore of the material, with the number of guests in these pores dependent on guest size and their location, in turn dependent upon both guest–guest interactions and competition between hydrogen-bonding interactions at the apertures of the smallest pore and lipophilic interactions at the center of the smallest pore. Hydrophilic guests with lone electron pairs interact preferentially with the coordinatively unsaturated Cu sites of the desolvated framework, with the number of these depending on steric interactions between neighboring bound guests and guest flexibility. Guest coordination at the Cu sites has a significant effect on the framework structure, increasing the Cu···Cu distance in the dinuclear unit, with the Cu3(BTC)2 unit cell being smaller when guests that do not coordinate with the Cu are present, and in the case of cyclohexane, smaller than for the desolvated framework. Overall, our comprehensive structural study reconciles Cu3(BTC)2 adsorption properties with the underlying guest–host and guest–guest interactions that gives rise to these. © 2014, American Chemical Society.
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    Topotactic structural conversion and hydration-dependent thermal expansion in robust LnMIII(CN)6·nH2O and flexible ALnFeII(CN)6·nH2O frameworks (A = Li, Na, K; Ln = La–Lu, Y; M = Co, Fe; 0 ≤ n ≤ 5)
    (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014-06-04) Duyker, SG; Halder, GJ; Southon, PD; Price, DJ; Edwards, AJ; Peterson, VK; Kepert, CJ
    The structures of the AxLnM(CN)6·nH2O (A = Li, Na, K; Ln = La–Lu, Y; M = Co, Fe; x = 0, 1; 0 ≤ n ≤ 5) cyanide frameworks, their thermal expansion behaviour, and their transformations upon dehydration are explored using X-ray and neutron single crystal diffraction and X-ray powder diffraction. Modification from positive to negative thermal expansion in the LnCo(CN)6·nH2O phases is achieved by removal of the guest water molecules. Most notable is the unprecedented flexibility demonstrated by the “coiling” of KLnFe(CN)6·nH2O frameworks upon their dehydration, wherein the lanthanoid coordination geometry reversibly converts from a 9-coordinate tri-capped trigonal prism to a 6-coordinate octahedron via a single-crystal-to-single-crystal process, accompanied by a large (14–16%) decrease in unit cell volume. © 2014, The Royal Society of Chemistry.