Since its initial synthesis in 2005, COF-5 has been known to have intrinsic disorder in the placement of the 2D layers relative to one another (i.e. turbostratic disorder). Prior studies of have demonstrated that the eclipsed layering found in the space group originally assigned to COF-5 (<i>P</i>6<i>/mmm</i>) is inconsistent with energy considerations. Herein it is demonstrated that eclipsed layers are also inconsistent with¹³C solid-state NMR data. Crystal structure predictions are made in five alternative space groups and good agreement is obtained in <i>P</i>21<i>/m</i>, <i>Cmcm</i>, and <i>C</i>2<i>/m</i>. We posit that all three space groups are present within the stacked 2D layers and show that this conclusion is consistent with evidence from ¹³C solid-state NMR linewidths and chemical shifts, powder x-ray diffraction data and energy considerations. An alternative explanation involving a mixture of multiple pure phases is rejected because the observed NMR spectra don’t exhibit the characteristic features of such mixed phase materials.

Since its initial synthesis in 2005, COF-5 has been known to have intrinsic disorder in the placement of the 2D layers relative to one another (i.e. turbostratic disorder). Prior studies of have demonstrated that the eclipsed layering found in the space group originally assigned to COF-5 (<i>P</i>6<i>/mmm</i>) is inconsistent with energy considerations. Herein it is demonstrated that eclipsed layers are also inconsistent with¹³C solid-state NMR data. Crystal structure predictions are made in five alternative space groups and good agreement is obtained in <i>P</i>21<i>/m</i>, <i>Cmcm</i>, and <i>C</i>2<i>/m</i>. We posit that all three space groups are present within the stacked 2D layers and show that this conclusion is consistent with evidence from ¹³C solid-state NMR linewidths and chemical shifts, powder x-ray diffraction data and energy considerations. An alternative explanation involving a mixture of multiple pure phases is rejected because the observed NMR spectra don’t exhibit the characteristic features of such mixed phase materials.

Titania metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are attractive materials for noble-metal-free heterogeneous photocatalysis because of their tunable photoredox activity. In this work, we present the effect of decreased pore-steric interference in photocatalysis by creating a new series of MOFs via isoreticular expansion. These new UCFMOFs pack in a hex rod net, are composed of 1-dimensional titania secondary building units and organic links of increased metrics, exhibiting pore apertures with expanded sizes and increased photocatalytic kinetics. Powder based crystallography, in tandem with local structure, gas adsorption, and DFT studies, enabled elucidation of their crystal, steric, and electronic structures that explain their increased photocatalytic efficiency towards mild oxidation of organic probes.<br>