The importance of reticular analysis for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and solid-state chemistry

 

The importance of reticular analysis for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and solid-state chemistry

 

Date: 23^rd March, 2026 (Monday)

Time: 6 - 6:50 pm (HKT)

 

Venue: Lecture Theatre P2, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building

 

 

Chalmers University of Technology

 

Professor Öhrström’s subject is Inorganic Chemistry, in particular the interactions of metal ions with other molecules. His main focus is the synthesis and understanding of Metal-Organic Frameworks, new materials with importance for “green” and sustainable chemical engineering and potential applications in catalysis and gas storage. Since 2007 he has been engaged in the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). He is a member of the Swedish National Committee for Chemistry and a regular contributor to Chemistry World’s (Royal Society of Chemistry) popular science podcasts.

 

Reticular chemistry is not a subdiscipline dealing with particular types of materials, it is a way of thinking of net-forming building blocks and the networks they form in the solid state.^{1, 2} The results of reticular chemistry are thus used to design MOFs, zeolites or covalent-organic frameworks (COFs), but also to understand, and communicate, any network forming chemical system through network topology analysis.³ Other such materials are allotropes of the elements, polymorphs of ice, Zintl phases, and supramolecular systems such as hydrogen bonded organic frameworks, HOFs.

 

These analyses are important as reticular chemistry not only provides blueprints for these framework-type materials but also systematize them, meaning we can incorporate results in a broader scientific context. For example, polymorphs of ice and allotropes of the group 14 elements are seldom discussed together but share the basic tetrahedral building unit and the resulting network topologies.⁴

 

I will discuss our recent work on the synthesis and properties of MOFs with emphasis on topology analysis. We will go from the basic descriptions of metal-SBUs giving dot-, rod- and sheet-MOFs,⁵ and also touch upon the less common frame-MOFs.⁶

 

Then we will talk about network topologies, especially for hexatopic linkers such as hexakis(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene, cpb^6-. This hexagon shaped linker has earlier led us to investigate unique topological properties such as foldable nets,⁷ and recently we implicated the concerted movement of the six carboxyphenyl groups in gate opening CO₂ gas sorption dynamics in a rod-MOF⁸.

 

(1) Ockwig, N. W. et al. Reticular Chemistry: Occurrence and Taxonomy of Nets and Grammar for the Design of Frameworks. J.Am.Chem.Soc. 2005, 38, 176-182.

(2) Yaghi, O. M. et al.  Reticular synthesis and the design of new materials. Nature 2003, 423 (6941), 705-714.

(3) Öhrström, L. Designing, Describing and Disseminating New Materials by using the Network Topology Approach. Chem. Eur. J. 2016, 22, 13758-13763.

(4) Öhrström, L. & O'Keeffe, M. Network topology approach to new allotropes of the group 14 elements. Z. Krist. Cryst. Mat. 2013, 228, 343-346.

(5) Amombo Noa, F. M. et al.  A unified topology approach to dot-, rod-, and sheet-MOFs. Chem 2021, 7, 2491-2512.

(6) Dazem, C. L. F.; et al.  How metal ions link in metal–organic frameworks: dots, rods, sheets, and 3D secondary building units exemplified by a Y(III) 4,4′-oxydibenzoate. Dalton Trans. 2025, 54, 5659-5663,

(7) Amombo Noa, F. M. et al. Metal–Organic Frameworks with Hexakis(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene: Extensions to Reticular Chemistry and Introducing Foldable Nets. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 9471-9481.

(8) Amombo Noa, F. M. et al. Chiral Lanthanum Metal–Organic Framework with Gated CO2 Sorption and Concerted Framework Flexibility. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 8725-8733.

(9) Björck, H. et al.  Extending Hexagon-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks—Mn(II) and Gd(III) MOFs with Hexakis(4-(4-Carboxyphenyl)phenyl)benzene. Inorganics 2026, 14, 12.

 

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