Metal Phosphonates and Phosphinates

Abstract

Metal phosphonate and phosphinate chemistry has a long history, which began in the 1970s with the pioneering work independently carried out by Prof. Abraham Clearfield (Texas A&M University, USA) and Prof. Giulio Alberti (University of Perugia, Italy). In 1978, Alberti reported the synthesis of the first layered Zr phosphonate based on phenylphosphonic acid, whose crystal structure was then determined in 1993 by Clearfield. This Zr derivative is considered the archetypical structure of all metal phosphonates and disclosed a new chemistry based on the rational design of synthetic materials possessing tailor-made structures and properties due to the synergistic contribution of both the metal type and organic part of the linkers. Phosphonic and phosphinic acids are linkers that can be synthesized by means of several, often easily accessible, strategies, thus affording a potentially huge number of building blocks. The combination of these ligands with alkaline, main group, transition, and rare-earth metals allows preparing robust and crystalline materials to be employed in a vast number of applications, such as ion exchange, gas sorption, molecular recognition, catalysis, and as support for biomedical purposes. This Special Issue collects the latest contributions of several experts in the field who attended the First European Workshop on Metal Phosphonate Chemistry held in Swansea (UK) in September 2018. The workshop was a one-day event organized with the aim to open a forum of discussion for the most eminent scientists working in the field of phosphonate and phosphinate chemistry. The invited talks presented during the seminar covered a large number of topics, ranging from new synthetic strategies to porous compounds, catalysis, batteries, and biomedical applications.