Mimicking zeolite to its core: porous sodalite cages as hangers for pendant trimeric M3(OH) clusters (M = Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Cd).

A new class of zeolite-type porous materials in which 3D frameworks are covalently functionalized with crystallographically ordered pendant metal clusters have been synthesized. This work demonstrates a new paradigm for and the feasibility of functionalizing zeolite-type frameworks through the conversion of extraframework sites in mineral zeolites into part of the framework for occupation by dangling metal clusters in metal-organic frameworks.