Urothermal synthesis of an unprecedented pillar-layered metal–organic framework

Abstract Ce2(bdc)6 · (H2O)4 (bdc = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid) (1) was urothermally synthesized through a mixture of Ce(NO3)3 · 6H2O and 1,4-bdc in e-urea/H2O (e-urea = 2-imidazolidinone hemihydrate) mixed solvent. A prominent feature of 1 is the unprecedented pillar-layered framework in which 1,4-bdc is both linker and pillar. Compound 1 displays strong blue-light emission. Keywords: Urothermal methodMOFTopologyPillar-layer