ABSTRACT
Porous materials resembling zeolites that are composed of organic and inorganic building units were synthesized and characterized. Control of pore and channel size was achieved by using different-sized cations. The metal-assembled, anionic cage molecule, Co(4)1(2)(8-), with a hydrophobic cavity and four carboxylate rich arms, was used as a structural unit for the formation of materials with pores and channels. When assembled into a solid material with dications (Mg(2+), Ca(2+), Sr(2+), and Ba(2+)), Co(4)1(2)(8-) arranges into sheets of cages linked together by cations. The series of materials based on Co(4)1(2)(8-) and containing alkaline earth cations was characterized using X-ray crystallography. The magnesium material packs with cages close together, has small channels, and has cation-carboxylate linkages in three dimensions. The calcium material has cages packed with voids between them and has 5 x 10 A channels and 10 x 21 A pores. The strontium and barium materials also pack with voids between the cages and similarly to each other. They have 11 x 13 A and 11 x 11 A channels and 10 x 27 A and 9 x 27 A pores, respectively. Each of these materials has many (20-50) solvent water molecules associated with each cage. The associated water can be removed from and adsorbed by the materials. The heat of water binding has been measured to be -52 kJ/mol (Mg(4)Co(4)1(2)); -47 kJ/mol (Ca(4)Co(4)1(2)); -48 kJ/mol (Sr(4)Co(4)1(2)); -49 kJ/mol (Ba(4)Co(4)1(2)).
