[Al4(OH)2(OCH3)4(H2N-bdc)3] x xH(2)O: a 12-connected porous metal-organic framework with an unprecedented aluminum-containing brick.

Al together now! A new stable aluminum aminoterephthalate system contains octameric building blocks that are connected by organic linkers to form a 12-connected net (see picture). The structure adopts a cubic centered packing motive in which octameric units replace individual atoms, thus forming distorted octahedral (red sphere) and tetrahedral cages (green spheres) with effective accessible diameters of 1 and 0.45 nm, respectively.