And other questions on MOFs. To welcome the release of our CSD MOF collection, 10, structures available for free for academic research , we are answering some common questions on MOFs with the help of some of our team and collaborators. A MOF, or metal organic framework, is a material formed of metal clusters or nodes, linked by organic molecules. However, a more detailed description of the terminology e. Certainly it can be said in many cases MOFs are porous, typically 3D, structures with a very high surface area.
These properties make them of interest for catalysis, or for storage or adsorption of other molecules in the pores. A metal organic framework can be pictured as a combination of metal atoms or clusters as nodes, with organic linkers. These COF structures are much less common with less than structures reported so far and even fewer with published crystal structures.
The recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry give terminology for MOFs in relation to a hierarchy of other definitions. The most broad of these is coordination polymer which covers any repeating polymeric structure in 1-, 2- or 3-dimensions.
A subset of this group is a coordination network, which covers only 2- or 3-dimensional compounds. Once free solvents have been removed from the original CIF structure, simulation methods are used to see if a sphere the size of a Nitrogen molecule could fit into the pores.
If it can, the material is defined as porous. If this sphere cannot fit, it is defined as non-porous. Machine learning and supercomputers will have an impact in the speed of analysis and predictions about MOFs. There has already been a move from standard Monte Carlo simulations into machine learning methods — this will accelerate the whole field. We went from years with experimental work, to weeks with Monte Carlo simulations, and now to seconds with machine learning.
