A bioinspired synthetic approach for building metal-organic frameworks with accessible metal centers.

We demonstrate how a bioinspired synthetic approach can help organic linkers distinguish between different types of metal centers in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Modification of an organic building unit with methyl groups enables the unit to selectively coordinate to one of the two metal sites present in the MOFs. We report four new porphyrin-based, pillared-paddlewheel frameworks: PPF-11-Zn/Zn, -Co/Co, -Mn/Zn, and -Fe/Zn, where the first and second metals indicate the metal center for the porphyrin core and paddlewheel cluster, respectively. These compounds exhibit 3D MOFs in which 2D layers are pillared by a sterically controlled bipyridine, leaving the metal centers inside the porphyrin structurally unconnected.