Isoreticularity in a gallate-based metal–organic framework: Impact of the extension of the ligand on the porosity, stability and adsorption of CO2

Isoreticularity is one of the key aspects in the design of new Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), but has been up to now scarcely applied to gallate (1,2-3-trioxobenzene) ligands. With the aim of building new materials isoreticular to the M(Hngal) (H4gal = gallic acid) small pore MOF series, we here designed the new elongated mixed gallate-carboxylate ligand 4-(3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl)benzoic acid (H4bpgal). A thorough investigation of its reactivity with MgCl2 has led to the successful isolation of the targeted material Mg(H2bpgal)·n(solv) (solv = water, methanol, ethanol). A combination of experimental tools, including single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), powder XRD, and 1H and 13C solid-state NMR studies confirmed the close structural relationship with the smaller analogue, including the presence of acidic OH sites arising from phenol groups bound to Mg cations. Contrary to the small pore analogue, Mg(H2bpgal) is of limited interest for gas capture, because of its moderate stability upon exposure to oxygen and low affinity for CO2, both resulting from the intrinsic characteristics of the ligand (redox activity and flexibility, respectively). Nevertheless, it presents to the best of our knowledge the highest surface area and pore volume reported to date for a gallate MOF (1475 m2 g−1 and 0.59 cm3 g−1, respectively); these characteristics might be of interest in other fields of applications, including electrochemical energy storage or combined controlled drug release.