Modulator-controlled synthesis of microporous STA-26, an interpenetrated 8,3-connected zirconium MOF with the the-i topology, and its reversible lattice shift

A fully interpenetrated 8,3-connected zirconium MOF with the the-i topology type, STA-26 (St Andrews porous material-26), has been prepared using the 4,4',4"-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzene-1,3,5-triyl)tribenzoate (TMTB) tritopic linker with formic acid as a modulating agent. In the as-prepared form STA-26 possesses Im-3m symmetry compared with the Pm-3m symmetry of the non-interpenetrated analogue, NU-1200, prepared using benzoic acid as a modulator. Upon removal of residual solvent there is a shift between the interpenetrating lattices and a resultant symmetry change to Cmcm which is fully reversible. This is observed by X-ray diffraction and ¹³C MAS NMR is also found to be remarkably sensitive to the structural transition. Furthermore, heating STA-26(Zr) in vacuum dehydroxylates the Zr₆ nodes leaving coordinatively unsaturated Zr⁴⁺ sites, as shown by IR spectroscopy using CO and CD₃CN as probe molecules. Nitrogen adsorption at 77 K together with grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations confirms a microporous, fully interpenetrated, structure with pore volume 0.53 cm³ g⁻¹ while CO2 adsorption at 196 K reaches 300 cm³ STP g⁻¹ at 1 bar. While the pore volume is smaller than that of its non-interpenetrated mesoporous analogue, interpenetration makes the structure more stable to moisture adsorption and introduces shape selectivity in adsorption.