Photoresponsive Metal-Organic Frameworks with Light-Dependent Guest Uptake

金属有机骨架(MOF)是一类由有机配体连接到金属节点上，自组装成具有纳米尺度的孔和通道的无限骨架的微孔晶体材料。这些孔和通道的大小与地球上许多对生命重要的小分子的大小相同。因此，MOF在气体储存、气体分离、催化和药物输送方面得到了应用。光活性MOF是一个相对较新的子领域；光响应性可以通过包括光活性客体、通过对现有框架进行后合成修饰或通过设计本质上具有光活性的框架连接体来实现。该项目利用我们制造并在我们的研究小组中使用的新的光响应MOF，利用光照射来控制医疗和工业感兴趣的小气体流入、流出和流出单晶。我们还拥有丰富的经验，使用红外和拉曼显微光谱来提供有关MOF单晶内宾客动态行为的信息。将新型光响应材料与这种先进的光谱技术相结合是下一步要做的事情，它将阐明分子在这些受控纳米空间中的纳米流体运动。学生将致力于研究的各个方面，从制作材料到理解和控制其应用所需的高级表征技术。

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of microporous crystalline materials made of organic ligands linked to metal nodes, self-assembled to form infinite frameworks with nanoscale pore and channels. These pores and channels are on the same size scale as many small molecules important to life on earth. As such, MOFs have found applications in gas storage, gas separations, catalysis and drug delivery. Photoactive MOFs are a relatively new subfield; photoresponsivity can be achieved by inclusion of a photoactive guest, by post-synthetic modification of an existing framework or by designing framework linkers that are intrinsically photoactive. This project exploits new photoresponsive MOFs that we make and use in our research group to control the flow of small gases of medical and industrial interest into, out of, and within single crystals using photoirradiation. We also have extensive experience of using infrared and Raman microspectroscopy to give information on the dynamic behaviour of guests within MOF single crystals. The combination of novel photoresponsive materials with such advanced spectroscopic techniques is the next step to make, that will elucidate the nanofluidic motion of molecules in these controlled nanospaces. The student will work on all aspects of the research, from making materials through to the advanced characterisation techniques that are required to understand and control their application.