Scalable one-step syntheses of aluminium-based MOFs

MOF manufacture consists of multistep processes, including filtration and washing steps to remove coproduced salts and wash out the solvent, if any. This constitutes a productivity bottleneck, together with significant costs for waste disposal. We show here a robust single-step route for the synthesis of aluminium-based MOFs that has been successfully applied to Al-fum, MIL-96, MIL-120, and MIL-160, all using aluminium alkoxide as a precursor. Highly crystalline MOFs are obtained with high yields (>90%). No wash-up or separate drying steps are necessary.