Probing Interactions of N-Donor Molecules with Open Metal Sites within Paramagnetic Cr-MIL-101: A Solid-State NMR Spectroscopic and Density Functional Theory Study

Understanding host guest interactions is one of the key requirements for adjusting properties in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). In particular, systems with coordinatively unsaturated Lewis acidic metal sites feature highly selective adsorption processes. This is attributed to strong interactions with Lewis basic guest molecules. Here we show that a combination of C-13 MAS NMR spectroscopy with state-of-the-art density functional theory (DFT) calculations allows one to unravel the interactions of water, 2-amino pyridine, 3-aminopyridine, and diethylamine with the open metal sites in Cr-MIL-101. The C-13 MAS NMR spectra, obtained with ultrafast magic-angle spinning, are well resolved, with resonances distributed over 1000 ppm. They present a clear signature for each guest at the open metal sites. Based on competition experiments this leads to the following binding preference: water < diethylamine approximate to 2-aminopyridine < 3-arninopyridine. Assignments were done by exploiting distance sum relations derived from spin lattice relaxation data and C-13{H-1} REDOR spectral editing. The experimental data were used to validate NMR shifts computed for the Cr-MIL-101 derivatives, which contain Cr3O clusters with magnetically coupled metal centers. While both approaches provide an unequivocal assignment and the arrangement of the guests at the open metal sites, the NMR data offer additional information about the guest and framework dynamics. We expect that our strategy has the potential for probing the binding situation of adsorbate mixtures at the open metal sites of MOFs in general and thus accesses the microscopic interaction mechanisms for this important material class, which is essential for deriving structure-property relationships.