Atomically Precise Crystalline Materials Based on Kinetically Inert Metal Ions via Reticular Mechanopolymerization
The incorporation of kinetically inert metal ions as structural elements in crystalline coordination polymers is a synthetic challenge. While a small family of materials based on inert ions has been prepared (<i>i.e.</i> Cr(III)-based MIL-100, MIL-101, and [Ru<sub>6</sub>(btc)<sub>4</sub>Cl<sub>3</sub>]), general strategies that enable reticular synthesis have not been reported. Here we describe the mechanochemical synthesis of a reticular family of crystalline Ru<sub>2</sub>[II,III]-based materials by polymerization of molecular Ru<sub>2</sub> complexes, featuring unprotected carboxylic acid substituents, with Cu(OAc)<sub>2</sub>. The resulting crystalline heterobimetallic MOFs are solid-solutions of Ru<sub>2</sub> and Cu<sub>2</sub> sites housed within [M<sub>3</sub>L<sub>2</sub>] phases. The developed mechanochemical strategy is modular and allows for control of the primary coordination sphere of the Ru<sub>2</sub> sites. We anticipate the strategy will provide a rational approach to incorporation of kinetically inert ions in porous crystalline coordination networks, generating a class of atomically precise mixed-metal materials.