Chapter 4 - Porous Metal Organic Frameworks: From Synthesis to Applications

Abstract

This chapter deals with a concise description of the porous Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), the youngest class of porous solids reported so far. Porous solids are important materials from an economic point of view as they are related to many industrial applications (catalysis, separation, fine chemistry, etc.). So far, research and applications have been focused on the zeolites, metalophosphates, activated carbons, or mesoporous solids. It is only recently that attention has been driven to a new class of porous solids, that is, hybrid inorganic–organic compounds, denoted MOFs (Metal Organic Frameworks) or PCPs (Porous Coordination Polymers). The MOFs are built up of inorganic sub-units (clusters, chains, layers or 3D arrangement) connected to organic linkers possessing complexing groups (carboxylates, phosphonates, N-containing compounds) by strong ionocovalent or dative bonds. More than a 1000 original structures have been reported and many are to come due to the almost endless possibilities of organic chemistry combined with the different chemistries of metals from all the periodic table. Despite their lower thermal and chemical stability, MOFs can be considered as a new complementary class of porous solids relative to their inorganic analogues (zeolites, metal phosphates, ordered mesoporous oxides). If some applications generally dedicated to zeolites reveal lower performance (catalysis), MOFs sometimes exhibit better results (adsorption).