CAU-3: A new family of porous MOFs with a novel Al-based brick: [Al2(OCH3)4(O2C-X-CO2)] (X = aryl)

A new family of Al-based MOFs denoted as CAU-3 (CAU = Christian-Albrechts-Universität) was discovered in the solvothermal system Al3+/aryldicarboxylic acid/NaOH/methanol by applying high-throughput-methods. The three compounds reported in this article [Al2(OCH3)4BDC], [Al2(OCH3)4BDC-NH2] and[Al2(OCH3)4NDC] (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate; NDC = 2,6-naphtalenedicarboxylate) are all based on the same unprecedented inorganic building unit [Al12(OCH3)24]12+, which is a dodecameric cyclic aluminium-methanolate-cluster. The material CAU-3-NDC was found to exhibit the highest surface area as well as the highest micropore volume of all Al-based MOFs reported until now.