Angewandte
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To check if the proto-MOF LIFM-28 is robust enough for
repeating and successive PVSI processes, the chemical
stability of LIFM-28 has been tested under harsh conditions.
PXRD indicates that the structure remains intact upon
immersion in boiling water and aqueous solutions at pH 1
and 12 at 1008C (Supporting Information, Figure S7). These
results confirm that the proto-LIFM-28 is highly stable to
maintain the framework against solution treatment (noting
that phase change always occurs from LIFM-28np to LIFM-
2
8lp in aqueous media, and vice versa under activation
conditions). Therefore, PVSI process has been fully tested
with continually elongating spacers covering a wide range.
The spacing between adjacent sites A (designating as dspacer) in
LIFM-28 is 3.6 ꢁ in its np-form, becoming 7.2 ꢁ in its lp-
form, while the spacing between neighboring sites B is 16.3 ꢁ.
As analyzed above, because the spacing between sites B is
rather rigid, so installation of spacer shorter than 16 ꢁ will
inevitably select sites A. Along this line, two shorter spacers,
Figure 1. Comparison of elastic deformation depending on the size of
spacer (dspacer), crystal expansion magnitude along c-axis (clength), and
specific volume (Vspecific volume) relative to LIFM-28np, and changes of
pore size along the c-axis.
2
3
H L and H L with d falling within the range between np-
2
2
spacer
4
form and lp-form of LIFM-28, and three longer spacers, H L ,
H L , and H L with dspacer significantly longer than the
2
2
5
6
change between np-form and lp-form of LIFM-28 into
2
2
spacing in LIFM-28lp, have been chosen for PVSI testing
Scheme 2). As an example, fresh LIFM-28lp crystals were
consideration, it is evident that two shorter spacers (H L
2
3
(
and H L ) leads to contraction with regard to the original
LIFM-28lp, while three longer spacers (H L , H L , and H L )
2
2
4
5
6
immersed in a DMF solution of H L at 758C for 24 h, leading
to formation of LIFM-29 incorporating a H L spacer with
L :L ratio of 2:1. This means four H O on neighboring sites A
2
2 2 2
2
result in expansion significantly surpassing the breathing
magnitude driven by water solvent. Such a modulation of
breathing effect by spacer installation is unprecedented and
impressive, especially the extra expansion beyond the ordi-
2
1
2
2
can be kinetically replaced by two immigrating spacers to
generate a topologically new framework. All other spacers
can undergo similar PVSI process to generate isoreticular
[
2a,3,5]
nary breathing behavior driven by external stimuli.
3
4
5
MOFs of LIFM-30 (H L ), LIFM-31 (H L ), LIFM-32 (H L ),
Moreover, installation of different spacers is a precise control
of the breathing behavior by fixing the swelling framework at
variate stages.
2
2
2
6
and LIFM-33 (H L ), with spacers positioned exactly between
2
sites A (Scheme 2). The structures of all single crystals
produced via PVSI have been determined (Supporting
Information, Figure S4, Table S1). Treatments of the spacer-
installed crystals with water or acid/basic aqueous solution
lead to uninstallation of the spacers (Supporting Information,
Figures S8–S12) to recover LIFM-28lp, except LIFM-33,
which is apt to collapse under basic conditions, probably
To testify the reversibility of the PVSI process, uninstal-
lation and reinstallation of the inserted spacers have also been
fully performed in the following sequence (Supporting
Information, Figures S26–S45): i) soaking the crystal of
LIFM-29–33 in water at room temperature for a certain
time (1 h to 3 days); ii) checking the phase and chemical
change of the soaked crystal with single-crystal X-ray
because of the NH group. The phase purity of PVSI products
2
1
19
has been verified by PXRD measurements (Supporting
diffraction, PXRD, and H and F NMR spectroscopy; and
1
19
1
Information, Figures S14–S18). H and F NMR spectral
analyses of the digested LIFM-29–33 in comparison with
iii) reinstalling the spacers verified by PXRD and H NMR.
As expected, the single-crystal and powder X-ray analyses
unambiguously confirm that the water-soaked crystals trans-
starting LIFM-28lp reveal that two spacers per Zr cluster are
6
1
19
installed in LIFM-29 and LIFM-33, while only one spacer is
installed in LIFM-30–32 (Supporting Information, Figur-
es S19–S25, Table S2), in agreement with the single-crystal
analysis results.
The elastic deformation effect induced by PVSI of
different spacers can be evaluated by the crystal expansion
magnitude along c-axis (clength), and the specific volume
derived from the unit cell volume (Vcell) and the number of
form back into LIFM-28lp. H and F NMR monitoring of
the digested samples of soaked and reinstalled crystals verify
that the inserted spacers in LIFM-29–33 are completely
removed or reinstalled. Further confirmation comes from gas
sorption examination of the activated crystals recovered from
LIFM-30 (Supporting Information, Figure S46). Its sorption
isotherms closely match the profile with the pristine LIFM-
28np, evidently indicative of full recovery of the porosity and
complete removal of spacers along reversible PVSI process.
These phenomena strongly suggest that PVSI is a kinetically
controlled process via labile coordination between the
formula per unit cell (Z) in the single crystal (Vspecific volume
Vcell/Z), taking the densest LIFM-28np as the reference
Figure 1). It is clear that, in comparison with the shortest
spacing between sites A in LIFM-28np, the spacer elongation
=
(
inserted spacers and Zr clusters, in contrast to conventional
6
2
6
from H L (186%) to H L (316%) causes crystal expansion
one-pot synthetic and post-synthetic approaches, facilitating
reversible installation/uninstallation of spacers and efficient
recycling of the proto-MOF. In this sense, a continuous cycle
starting from the most compressed LIFM-28np to the most
2
2
along c-axis from 123% to 159%, and swelling of the specific
volume from 119% to 136%. In contrast, the pore size in c-
direction only shrinks less than 10%. Taking the structural
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 1 – 6
ꢀ 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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