New architectures for zirconium polyphosphonates with a tailor-made open-framework structure.

The use of tetraphosphonic building blocks for the preparation of inorganic-organic zirconium derivatives has led to the formation of novel compounds with a modular structure. This is based on the different connection of polymeric 1D inorganic units covalently connected by organic groups. The different kinds of connections generate two different open-framework structures. These structures have been solved "ab initio" by powder X-ray diffraction data. Very likely, the dimensions of the channels inside these structures may be tuned by the right choice of the interlinking organic group.