High-Throughput Aided Synthesis of the Porous Metal-Organic Framework-Type Aluminum Pyromellitate, MIL-121, with Extra Carboxylic Acid Functionalization

A new porous metal organic framework (MOF)-type aluminum pyromellitate (MIL-121 or Al(OH)[H(2)btec]center dot(guest), (guest = H2O, H(4)btec = pyromellitic acid) has been isolated by using a high-throughput synthesis method under hydrothermal conditions. Its structure was determined from powder X-ray diffraction analysis using synchrotron radiation (Soleil, France) and exhibits a network closely related to that of the MIL-53 series. It is a three-dimensional (3D) framework containing one-dimensional (1D) channels delimited by infinite trans-connected aluminum-centered octahedra AlO4(OH)2 linked through the pyromellitate ligand. Here the organic ligand acts as tetradendate linker via two of the carboxylate groups. The two others remain non-bonded in their protonated form, and this constitutes a rare case of the occurrence of both bonding and non-bonding organic functionalities of the MOF family. The non-coordinated -COOH groups points toward the channels to get them an open form configuration. Within the tunnels are located unreacted pyromellitic acid and water species, which are evacuated upon heating, and a porous MIL-121 phase is obtained with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 162 m(2) g(-1). MIL-121 has been characterized by IR, thermogravimetry (TG) analyses, and solid state NMR spectroscopy employing a couple of two-dimensional (2D) techniques such as H-1-H-1 SQ-DQ BABA, H-1-H-1 SQ-SQ RFDR, Al-27{H-1} CPHETCOR and Al-27 MQMAS.