Discovery and Synthesis Optimization of Isoreticular Al(III) Phosphonate-Based Metal-Organic Framework Compounds Using High-Throughput Methods

High-throughput (HT) methods are an important tool for the fast and efficient screening of synthesis parameters and the discovery of new materials. This manuscript describes the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) from solution using an HT reactor system, resulting in the discovery of various phosphonate-based MOFs of the composition [Al2H12-x(PMP)3]Clx∙6H2O (H4PMP = N,N '-piperazine bis(methylenephosphonic acid)) for x = 4, 6, denoted as Al-CAU-60-xHCl, containing trivalent aluminum ions. This was accomplished under solvothermal reaction conditions by systematically screening the impact of the molar ratio of the linker to the metal and the pH of the reaction mixture on the product formation. The protocol for the HT investigation includes six steps: a) synthesis planning (DOE = design of experiment) within the HT methodology, b) dosing and working with in-house developed HT reactors, c) solvothermal synthesis, d) synthesis workup using in-house developed filtration blocks, e) characterization by HT powder X-ray diffraction, and f) evaluation of the data. The HT methodology was first used to study the influence of acidity on the product formation, leading to the discovery of Al-CAU-60∙xHCl (x = 4 or 6).