Reversible Concerted Ligand Substitution at Alternating Metal Sites in an Extended Solid
Darren Bradshaw,1
John E. Warren,2
Matthew J. Rosseinsky1*
We report a synthetic material, [Co
2(bipy)
3(SO
4)
2(H
2O)
2](bipy)
(CH
3OH), (
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.
2 Synchrotron Radiation Source, Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.j.rosseinsky{at}liv.ac.uk
