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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 international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201603687
Subject(s) - nucleation , metal , crystal growth , crystal (programming language) , chemistry , computer science , organic chemistry , crystallography , programming language
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.