Chemical design of materials: A case study of inorganic open-framework materials*
C. N. R. Rao, Meenakshi Dan, and J. N. Behera
Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560064, India and Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
Abstract: Inorganic open-framework materials are discussed as a case study in the chemical design of materials. Investigations of open-framework zinc phosphates have demonstrated that the formation of the complex 3D architectures may involve a process wherein 1D ladders or chains, and possibly 0D monomers comprising four-membered rings, transform to the higher-dimensional structures. The 1D ladder and the four-membered rings appear to be important building units of these structures. At one stage of the building-up process, spontaneous self-assembly of a low-dimensional structure such as the ladder could occur, followed by the crystallization of a 3D structure. Accordingly, many of the higher-dimensional structures retain structural features of the 0D or 1D structure. It is significant that a four-membered ring zinc phosphate spontaneously yields a linear chain phosphate at room temperature, on addition of piperazine, the chain transforming to a sodalite-type 3D structure under mild conditions. The occurrence of a hierarchy of structures from 0-3 dimensions is found in open-framework metal oxalates as well. Interestingly, the 3D sodalite structure is generated readily by the assembly of metal squarates, possessing the four-membered ring motif. It is noteworthy that open-framework structures are also formed by oxyanions such as sulfate, selenite, and selenate. Transformations of molecules to complex architectures are a worthy area of study, defining a new direction in the chemistry of materials.
Keywords: Open-framework phosphates; metal phosphates; open-framework carboxylates; metal carboxylates; metal squarates; open-framework sulfates; open-framework selenates.
*Paper based on a presentation at the 4th International Conference of the Chemical Societies of the South-Eastern European Countries (ICOSECS-4), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, 18-21 July 2004. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 1655-1752.