Reticular synthesis and the design of new materials

Yaghi, Omar M.
O'Keeffe, Michael
Ockwig, Nathan W.
Chae, Hee K.
Eddaoudi, Mohamed
Kim, Jaheon

* Materials Design and Discovery Group, † Department of Chemistry, 930 N. University Avenue, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1055, USA
‡ Department of Chemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA
§ Permanent address: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea

doi:10.1038/nature01650.

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to O.M.Y.

Nature 423(6941):p 705-714, June 12, 2003.

The long-standing challenge of designing and constructing new crystalline solid-state materials from molecular building blocks is just beginning to be addressed with success. A conceptual approach that requires the use of secondary building units to direct the assembly of ordered frameworks epitomizes this process: we call this approach reticular synthesis. This chemistry has yielded materials designed to have predetermined structures, compositions and properties. In particular, highly porous frameworks held together by strong metal-oxygen-carbon bonds and with exceptionally large surface area and capacity for gas storage have been prepared and their pore metrics systematically varied and functionalized.