Exceptional surface area from coordination copolymers derived from two linear linkers of differing lengths

Although a multitude of microporous coordination polymers (MCPs) with ultrahigh surface area have been reported in the last decade, none of these can come close to matching the cost/performance ratio of conventional sorbents such as zeolites and carbons for most applications. There is a need to drastically reduce the cost of MCPs and this goal cannot be achieved through complex linker synthesis strategies so often used to boost MCP performance. Here two new MCPs: UMCM-8 (Zn4O(benzene-1,4-dicarboxylate) (1.5)(naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate)(1.5)), and UMCM-9 (Zn4O(naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate) (1.5)(biphenyl-4,4'-dicarboxylate)(1.5)) are described and the concept of using mixtures of readily available linear linkers that enforce different spacings between network nodes is introduced as a means to reduce interpenetration. These new MCPs demonstrate Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas over 4000 m(2) g(-1) and high pore volumes over 1.80 cm(3) g(-1).