Lanthanide containing coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks are a diverse class of materials for applications from sensing to gas storage.  Furthermore, the ability to interchange metals and organic linkers to tailor various shapes or even perform post synthetic modifications makes this class of materials very powerful. In lanthanide systems, however, the contracted nature of the f-orbitals gives rise to primarily electrostatic bonding, where ligand bonding is principally determined by ligand steric considerations. This, combined with the lanthanides’ large ionic radii, result in irregular and unpredictable coordination geometries that give rise to a diverse range of metal clusters, or secondary building units. A better understanding of the formation of these structural motifs is necessary for the rational design of these materials for targeted applications. To this end, the formation of lanthanide-terephthalate coordination polymers under hydrothermal reaction conditions was evaluated. The concentrations of lanthanide and linker, reaction temperature, and reaction time were systematically varied. It was found that only at a small range of specific concentrations and relative ratios of lanthanide and linker that coordination polymer formation occurred.<br/>

Optimizing hydrothermal reaction conditions for lanthanide coordination polymer formation: A study of the 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate system

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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