CAU-3: a new family of porous MOFs with a novel Al-based brick: [Al2(OCH3)4(O2C-X-CO2)] (X = aryl).

A new family of Al-based MOFs denoted as CAU-3 (CAU = Christian-Albrechts-Universität) was discovered in the solvothermal system Al(3+)/aryldicarboxylic acid/NaOH/methanol by applying high-throughput-methods. The three compounds reported in this article [Al(2)(OCH(3))(4)BDC], [Al(2)(OCH(3))(4)BDC-NH(2)] and[Al(2)(OCH(3))(4)NDC] (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate; NDC = 2,6-naphtalenedicarboxylate) are all based on the same unprecedented inorganic building unit [Al(12)(OCH(3))(24)](12+), which is a dodecameric cyclic aluminium-methanolate-cluster. The material CAU-3-NDC was found to exhibit the highest surface area as well as the highest micropore volume of all Al-based MOFs reported until now.