A Porous and Interpenetrated Metal–Organic Framework Comprising Tetranuclear IronIII–Oxo Clusters and Tripodal Organic Carboxylates and Its Implications for (3,8)-Coordinated Networks

A porous metal–organic framework (MOF), Fe4(μ3-O)2(BTB)8/3(DMF)2(H2O)2·(DMF)10(H2O)2 (1) (BTB = benzene-1,3,5-tribenzoate, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) has two interpenetrating 3D frameworks composed of fused cages and shows a stronger affinity for CO2 than most other known highly porous MOFs. The unique tetranuclear iron–oxo clusters act as 8-connectors, which are linked by 3-connecting BTBs, to give a partially augmented the net (using the symbolism of O’Keeffe and co-workers). The underlying implications for (3,8)-coordinated networks are also discussed in relation to the framework structure of 1.