Covalently Cross-Linked Coordination Crystals

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The goal of this project is to adapt recent advances in crystal engineering for the preparation of covalently cross-linked coordination crystals, materials potentially useful in separations and ion conduction. We use a template methodology. We synthesize rigid nanoscale organic molecules which are then initially assembled in the solid state via labile organic-ligand-to-metal coordination-bonds. In the second step we introduce guest molecules without altering the host crystal structure. These guest molecules cross-link the original organic molecules to each other. In this way, we are able to access a new regime of organic solids viz., crystalline multi-dimensional covalently bonded organic solids. Such materials will be chemically and physically more robust than existing organic materials. This research program is carried out together with graduate and undergraduate students who receive state-of-the-art training in crystal engineering. The fundamentals of two different fields, organic reaction methodology and solid state chemistry, are applied in the design of useful crystalline materials. The next generation of solid state devices will require materials that combine both the functional specificity of typical organic compounds plus the global architecture of traditional inorganic solids. In this project methodologies are developed for designing routes to these materials in which the organic and inorganic portions are joined together at a molecular scale. An important synergism is needed here between organic, inorganic and solid state chemistry, a synergism which is vital to the successful design of useful devices.