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Determination of the Preassembled Nucleating Units That Are Critical for the Crystal Growth of the Metal–Organic Framework CdIF‐4
Author(s) -
Wagia Raghidah,
Strashnov Ilya,
Anderson Michael W.,
Attfield Martin P.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201603687
Subject(s) - nucleation , crystallization , chemistry , crystal growth , cadmium , ligand (biochemistry) , polymer , molecule , metal , crystallography , crystal (programming language) , metal organic framework , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language , adsorption , biochemistry , receptor
Identifying the form and role of the chemical species that traverse the stages of crystallization is critical to understanding the formation process of coordination polymers. Herein, we report the combined use of in situ atomic force microscopy and mass spectrometry to identify preformed, complex, cadmium 2‐ethylimidazole containing solution species in the growth solution of the cadmium 2‐ethylimidazolate metal–organic framework CdIF‐4, and show that they are critical in the surface nucleation for the crystal growth of this material. Surface nucleation appears to be instigated by these [Cd x (CH 3 CO 2 ) y (C 5 H 7 N 2 /C 5 H 8 N 2 ) z ]‐containing solution species and not by sole addition of the ligand molecules. The CH 3 CO 2 − or Cd(CH 3 CO 2 ) 2 groups of the former are substituted subsequently as the framework growth proceeds. Our greater understanding of such solution species and their role in crystallization will guide future syntheses of designed functional coordination polymers.