Metal organic nanotubes (MONTs) are 1D structures similar to carbon nanotubes, but crucially are constructed of a metal-ligand scaffold. Similar to metal organic frameworks in composition, MONTs are, however, anisotropic due to only having one axis of crystallographic growth. Unlike their carbon nanotube counterparts, MONTs can be formed at relatively low temperatures, have predictable formation, and exhibit increased tunability through the ligands attached to the metal center. Because of these properties, MONTs can be functionalized towards promising applications such as ion transport and gas adsorption. The tunability of MONTs can be further exploited by taking advantage of copolymerization through the use of dissimilar ligands. By using previously synthesized ligands, reactions varying solvent, ligand/metal concentration, and metal salt were all tested to determine the ideal reaction conditions for copolymerized crystal growth. A crystal of a copper MONT utilizing copolymerized protonated and naphthyl linkers was characterized using SCXRD, providing evidence that a naphthyl ligand can partake in copolymerization. For the rest of the MONT trials, PXRD was used to conclude that mixing of ligands occurred during MONT formation. None of the mixed ligand powder patterns matched simulated patterns from the single-ligand crystal structures. The crystal structure collected using SCXRD, as well as the PXRD data, all provide evidence that copolymerization by non-isostructural ligands occurred during MONT crystal formation.

Synthesis and characterization of copolymerized metal organic nanotubes

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