Recent advances in post-synthetic modification of metal–organic frameworks: New types and tandem reactions

In the past five years, post-synthetic modification (PSM) has become a very useful strategy in systematically functionalizing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) by modifying the linker, metal node, pore character, and surface environment for the purpose of increasing the structural stability and introducing desired properties. In this review, we intend to demonstrate the two major trends in PSM including the mushrooming of new types of reaction and the combination of multi-steps PSM. The selected examples illustrate three promising PSM classes, post-synthetic metal exchange (PSME), post-synthetic ligand exchange (PSLE) and post-synthetic elimination and insertion (PSE&I). Combined with the well-developed covalent PSM and dative PSM, tandem PSM which constitutes of multistep and different types of reaction adds to the step-by-step improvement of catalytic activity, regulating magnetism and others. These recent advances in PSM not only open new paths to improve the function of MOFs, but also reveal the unprecedented reaction complexity of crystalline solids.