Quest for a highly connected robust porous metal-organic framework on the basis of a bifunctional linear linker and a rare heptanuclear zinc cluster.

A strategy for building highly connected robust MOFs from linear ligands is exemplified by the construction of MTAF-4, a rare (6,9)-connected MOF, based on the custom-designed bifunctional linear ligand, 4-(1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)-benzoate, that connects two types of highly connected zinc cluster moieties generated in situ. MTAF-4 is robust and permanently microporous and is capable of adsorbing CO2, H2 and CH4 under high pressures.