Abstract

The long-standing challenge of designing and constructing new crystalline solid-state materials from molecular building blocks is just beginning to be addressed with success. A conceptual approach that requires the use of secondary building units to direct the assembly of ordered frameworks epitomizes this process: we call this approach reticular synthesis. This chemistry has yielded materials designed to have predetermined structures, compositions and properties. In particular, highly porous frameworks held together by strong metal–oxygen–carbon bonds and with exceptionally large surface area and capacity for gas storage have been prepared and their pore metrics systematically varied and functionalized.

1. Materials Design and Discovery Group, Department of Chemistry, 930 N. University Avenue, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1055, USA
2. Department of Chemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-1604, USA
3. Permanent address: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea

Correspondence to: Omar M. Yaghi^1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to O.M.Y. (Email: oyaghi@umich.edu).