Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials constructed from modular molecular building blocks, typically metal clusters and organic linkers. These can, in principle, be assembled to form an almost unlimited number of MOFs, yet materials reported to date represent only a tiny fraction of the possible combinations. Here, we demonstrate a computational approach to generate all conceivable MOFs from a given chemical library of building blocks (based on the structures of known MOFs) and rapidly screen them to find the best candidates for a specific application. From a library of 102 building blocks we generated 137,953 hypothetical MOFs and for each one calculated the pore-size distribution, surface area and methane-storage capacity. We identified over 300 MOFs with a predicted methane-storage capacity better than that of any known material, and this approach also revealed structure-property relationships. Methyl-functionalized MOFs were frequently top performers, so we selected one such promising MOF and experimentally confirmed its predicted capacity.

A pillared-paddlewheel type metal-organic framework material featuring bodipy- and porphyrin-based struts, and capable of harvesting light across the entire visible spectrum, has been synthesized. Efficient-essentially quantitative-strut-to-strut energy transfer (antenna behavior) was observed for the well-organized donor-acceptor assembly consituting the ordered MOF structure.

HKUST-1, a metal-organic framework (MOF) material containing Cu(II)-paddlewheel-type nodes and 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate struts, features accessible Cu(II) sites to which solvent or other desired molecules can be intentionally coordinated. As part of a broader investigation of ionic conductivity in MOFs, we unexpectedly observed substantial proton conductivity with the "as synthesized" version of this material following sorption of methanol. Although HKUST-1 is neutral, coordinated water molecules are rendered sufficiently acidic by Cu(II) to contribute protons to pore-filling methanol molecules and thereby enhance the alternating-current conductivity. At ambient temperature, the chemical identities of the node-coordinated and pore-filling molecules can be independently varied, thus enabling the proton conductivity to be reversibly modulated. The proton conductivity of HKUST-1 was observed to increase by ~75-fold, for example, when node-coordinated acetonitrile molecules were replaced by water molecules. In contrast, the conductivity became almost immeasurably small when methanol was replaced by hexane as the pore-filling solvent.

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There is considerable interest in developing non-peptidic, small-molecule α-helix mimetics to disrupt α-helix-mediated protein−protein interactions. Herein, we report the design of a novel pyrrolopyrimidine-based scaffold for such α-helix mimetics with increased conformational rigidity. We also developed a facile solid-phase synthetic route that is amenable to divergent synthesis of a large library. Using a fluorescence polarization-based assay, we identified cell-permeable, dual MDMX/MDM2 inhibitors, demonstrating that the designed molecules can act as α-helix mimetics.

A zinc porphyrin derivative (2) and zinc porphyrin-bodipy dyad (3) have been prepared and applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). On the basis of absorption and fluorescence excitation spectra, dyad 3 efficiently transfers energy from the bodipy to zinc porphyrin constituent. The 3-sensitized solar cell demonstrates higher solar spectral coverage, based on incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) spectra, and an improved power conversion efficiency (eta = 1.55%) compared to that of the 2-sensitized cell (eta = 0.84%). The better performance of the 3-sensitized cell is attributed largely to the gain in spectral absorbance provided by the bodipy constituent of 3. Also evident, however, are secondary effects reflecting (a) fill-factor improvement and (b) a slight gain in porphyrin red-edge absorbance due to bodipy-conjugate formation.

Zwei gehen rein, einer kommt raus: Eine Serie von isostrukturellen M‐MOF‐74‐Materialien (M=Co, Mn, Mg) mit hoher Dichte an offenen Metallpositionen wurde hinsichtlich der selektiven Adsorption von Propen gegenüber Propan untersucht. Co‐MOF‐74 zeigt die höchste thermodynamische C3H6/C3H8‐Selektivtät (ca. 45), die bisher für ein MOF beschrieben wurde.

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