Metal–Organic Frameworks with Boronic Acid Suspended and Their Implication for cis‐Diol Moieties Binding

Abstract

Introduction of accessible boronic acid functionality into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) might to endow them with desired properties for potential applications in recognition and isolation of cis‐diol containing biomolecules (CDBs). However, no investigation is found to address this topic until now. Herein, Cr‐based MOFs of MIL‐100 (MIL stands for Materials from Institut Lavoisier) integrated with different pendent boronic acid group (MIL‐100‐B) are reported. This new functional material is successfully prepared using a simple metal–ligand–fragment coassembly (MLFC) strategy with isostructure to the parent MIL‐100 as verified by X‐ray diffraction characterization. The integration and content tunability of the boronic acid group in the framework are confirmed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and 11B NMR. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that MIL‐100‐B can evolve into well‐defined morphology and nanoscale size at optimized boronic acid incorporating level. The obtained MOFs exhibit comparable surface areas and pore volumes with parent MIL‐100 and present exceptional chemical stability in a wide pH range. The inherent boronic acid components in MIL‐100‐B can effectively serve as the recognition units for the cis‐diol moieties and consequently enhance the capture capabilities for CDBs. The exceptional chemical stability, high porosity, and good reusability as well as the intrinsic cis‐diol moieties recognition function prefigure great potential of the current MIL‐100‐B in CDBs purification, sensing, and separation applications.