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System of sequences in multivariate reticular structures

Nature Reviews Materials (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

When variance is encountered in reticular structures such as metal–organic frameworks, it occurs as multiple kinds of functionalities bound and distributed in aperiodic lattices. In these multivariate systems, unknown spatial arrangements of functionalities create properties that go beyond those of their simple sum. It is therefore essential that we learn how to recognize, study and use these arrangements, and for this purpose we propose using the concept of sequences. Accordingly, we propose a classification system, outline a method for characterizing sequences and describe the application to self-propelled reticular machines. On a fundamental level, this contribution transforms the chemist’s thinking from the usual ‘make, characterize, use’ protocol of doing chemistry to a discovery routine based on finding correlations between input synthesis parameters and output performance. This approach provides an alternative and widely accessible pathway for determining the properties that the system of sequences confers on multivariate reticular structures.

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Fig. 1: Atomic spatial arrangement and sequences in classifying molecules and extended molecular networks.
Fig. 2: Proposed classification of framework multivariation applied to a mixed-metal nanocrystal with a known structure.
Fig. 3: Molecular sorting performed on an N2/CO2/H2O gas mixture by a multivariate MOF-5 framework.
Fig. 4: Multivariate reticular machines at work in suitable conditions.

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Acknowledgements

S.C. acknowledges the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) for financial support (grant ID: 12ZV120N), and thanks H.-B. Bürgi and R. Frison for introducing him to the crystallography of correlated disorder. O.M.Y. thanks current and former students whose experiments have helped to shape the ideas presented. C.G., Leopoldina postdoctoral fellow of the German National Academy of Science (LPDS 2019-02), acknowledges the receipt of a fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation (P2EZP2-184380). E.P. thanks the Center for NanoScience Munich (CeNS) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (PL 696/4-1) for financial support.

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Author notes

  1. Stefano Canossa

    Present address: Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. EMAT, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Stefano Canossa

  2. Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Zhe Ji

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Cornelius Gropp, Zichao Rong & Omar M. Yaghi

  4. Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet (BIDMaP), Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society, University of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Zichao Rong & Omar M. Yaghi

  5. Department of Chemistry and Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Evelyn Ploetz

  6. Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain

    Stefan Wuttke

  7. Basque Center for Materials, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU Science Park, Leioa, Spain

    Stefan Wuttke

  8. Joint UAEU–UC Berkeley Laboratories for Materials Innovations, UAE University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

    Omar M. Yaghi

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Contributions

S.C. contributed to writing, supervision, review and editing, and graphics. Z.J., C.G. and Z.R. contributed to writing, review and editing. E.P. and S.W. contributed to review and editing. O.M.Y. contributed to writing, review and editing, and supervision.

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Correspondence to Stefano Canossa or Omar M. Yaghi.

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Nature Reviews Materials thanks Vladislav Blatov, Dariusz Matoga and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Canossa, S., Ji, Z., Gropp, C. et al. System of sequences in multivariate reticular structures. Nat Rev Mater (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-022-00482-5

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