Reversible Concerted Ligand Substitution at Alternating Metal Sites in an Extended Solid

Abstract

We report a synthetic material, [Co ₂ (bipy) ₃ (SO ₄ ) ₂ (H ₂ O) ₂ ](bipy) (CH ₃ OH), ( 1 , where bipy = 4,4′-bipyridyl) that contains discrete reactive and inert structural motifs that undergo a reversible substitution reaction involving the concerted and spatially controlled introduction of bipyridine and methanol molecules at the reactive sites. This reaction defines the pore geometry of the resulting open-framework structure and controls the manner in which this structure sorbs small molecules. The molecules involved in the reaction are positioned by an array of well-defined interactions during their path to binding to the metal centers.