A R T I C L E S
Loiseau et al.
of MOFs materials is less common, despite a rich literature18,19
relating to the chemistry of molecular aluminum carboxylate
complexes for their neurotoxic effects in biological systems or
alumoxanes species resulting from the reaction of carboxylic
acids with boehmite.20-22 On the other hand, the hydrolysis of
aluminum in aqueous solution has been intensively studied for
over 40 years.23 Besides the isolation of large purely inorganic
minum octahedral units interacting with the btc ligand. We
applied an alternative synthesis route for growing well-defined
single crystals of such MOF solids by using the methyl ester
form (trimethyl 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate or Me3btc) of the
trimesic acid together with HF and TEOS. The arrangement of
the metallic cation Al3+ in this particular solid is new and
original for the chemistry of aluminum since isolated µ3-oxo-
centered trinuclear units and a two-dimensional (2D) network
of hexagonal 18-membered rings are observed. The MIL-96 (Al)
compound is characterized by means of single-crystal X-ray
24-26
26,27
aggregates such as Al13
or Al30
polycations species,
novel clusters such as the Al1328 and Al429 or Al1530 species are
formed in the presence of the carboxylate ligands heidi (H3heidi
) N(CH2COOH)2(CH2CH2OH)) and hpdta (H5hpdta ) HOCH2-
[CH2N(CH2COOH)2]2), respectively.
analysis, 27Al solid-state MAS NMR and gas adsorption was
reported for CO2, CH4, and H2.
The group in Versailles focuses its attention on the reaction
of aluminum or gallium with aromatic carboxylic acids under
hydrothermal conditions. Up to now, two phases have been
isolated with aluminum, MIL-5331 (with 1,4-benzenedicarbox-
ylic acid or H2bdc) and MIL-6932 (with 2,6-naphthalenedicar-
boxylic acid or H2ndc), and one for gallium, MIL-6133 (with
1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid or H4btec). The MIL-53
compound was found to be a good candidate for H2,34 CH4,
Experimental Section
Synthesis. The aluminum trimesate Al12O(OH)18(H2O)3(Al2(OH)4)-
[btc]6‚24H2O (MIL-96) was hydrothermally synthesized under autog-
enous pressure from a mixture of aluminum nitrate and 1,3,5-
benzenetricarboxylic acid in water. The starting reactants were aluminum
nitrate (Al(NO3)3‚9H2O, Carlo Erba Regenti, 98%), 1,3,5-benzenetri-
carboxylic acid (C6H3(CO2H)3, Aldrich, 95%, or H3btc). In addition,
different synthesis batches used trimethyl 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate
(C6H3(CO2CH3)3, 98%, Aldrich, noted Me3btc), diluted hydrofluoric
acid (HF, Normapur, 4.8%) and tetraethylortho silicate (Si(OC2H5)4,
TEOS, Merck, >98%). Typically, the reaction mixture containing the
molar ratio: 1 Al(NO3)3‚9H2O (3.5 mmol, 1.314 g)/0.14 H3btc (0.5
mmol, 0.105 g)/80 H2O (278 mmol, 5 mL) was placed in a 23-mL
Teflon-lined steel Parr autoclave at 210 °C for 24 h (batch 1). The pH
of synthesis was 1. After the hydrothermal treatment, a powdered
product was obtained, which was filtered off, washed with deionized
water, and dried in air at room temperature. Optical microscope analysis
indicated that the sample is composed of a mixture of a fine white
powder (∼1 µm size) of the title compound and large parallelepiped-
shaped crystals of recrystallized H3btc (C9H6O6‚0.83H2O37 form).
Preliminary X-ray powder diffraction pattern showed that the fine
powder is a novel phase. The MIL-96 (Al) phase could be obtained as
a pure phase by using the trimethyl 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate as
starting reactant (batch 2). The reaction mixture was 1 Al(NO3)3‚9H2O
(3.5 mmol, 1.314 g)/0.5 Me3btc (1.75 mmol, 0.440 g)/80 H2O (278
mmol, 5 mL), and a pure phase of MIL-96 (Al) is prepared after heating
for 24 h at 210 °C under hydrothermal conditions. Suitable single-
crystals for XRD analysis were obtained from a different mixture (batch
3). In this case, the reaction molar composition was 1 Al(NO3)3‚9H2O
(3.5 mmol, 1.314 g)/0.5 Me3btc (1.75 mmol, 0.440 g)/0.4 HF (1.4 mmol,
0.6 mL)/0.2 TEOS (0.7 mmol, 0.16 mL)/320 H2O (1111 mmol, 20
mL). HF38 and TEOS39 are used for their mineralizing effect under
hydrothermal conditions, inducing the increased crystallinity. These
reactants were placed in a 125-mL Teflon-lined steel Parr autoclave at
210 °C for 24 h, and flat hexagonal-shape crystals of 10-40 µm size
were obtained in the absence of recrystallized H3btc.
35
and CO2 adsorption, and significant uptake values were
observed for these different gases, partly due to the low density
of these materials with aluminum being a relatively light
element. We continue these series with the utilization of the
trimesic acid ligand (1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid or H3btc).
Under some conditions, a ladder-like pure fluoride aluminum
([Al2F8]2-)n species36 intercalated by the triprotonated H3btc
molecules was previously obtained with the HF/pyridine solvent
mixture. Here, this contribution addresses the synthesis and
characterization of a new 3D framework, noted MIL-96 (Al),
Al12O(OH)18(H2O)3(Al2(OH)4)[btc]6‚24H2O involving the alu-
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shaped crystal (0.04 mm × 0.04 mm × 0.04 mm) was selected under
polarizing optical microscope and glued on a glass fiber for a single-
crystal X-ray diffraction experiment. X-ray intensity data were collected
on a Bruker ×8-APEX2 CCD area-detector diffractometer using Mo
KR radiation (λ ) 0.71073 Å). Four sets of narrow data frames (60 s
per frame) were collected at different values of θ for 2 and 2 initial
values of φ and ω, respectively, using 0.3° increments of φ or ω. Data
reduction was accomplished using SAINT V7.03. The substantial
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9
10224 J. AM. CHEM. SOC. VOL. 128, NO. 31, 2006