Professor Lars Öhrström from Chalmers Tekniska Högskola & Berkeley Global Science Institute

Metal-organic frameworks are coming of age. Numerous potential applications are seriously investigated by industry and a few products are already on the market. This talk will trace some of their origin, from the 1916 Japanese invention of the term coordination polymer to the molecule-based magnetic materials of the early 1990’s. I will also describe how network topology analysis is applied to different fields of solid-state chemistry, especially MOFs but also group 14 allotropes and related compounds, ice polymorphs, zeolites, supramolecular (organic) solid-state chemistry, Zintl phases, and cathode materials for Li-ion batteries.[1] Recent IUPAC recommendations and ongoing work on the terminology and nomenclature of MOFs will also be discussed.[2] Finally I will mention how metal−organic frameworks challenge our perceptions about the properties of crystalline materials.[3]

1. (a) Designing, Describing and Disseminating New Materials Using the Network Topology Approach, L. Öhrström, 22, 13758–13763, Chemistry a European Journal, 2016, (b) Let’s talk about MOFs – Nomenclature and Terminology of Metal-Organic Frameworks and Why We Need them, L. Öhrström, Crystals, 5, 154-162, 2015

2.  (a) Terminology of Metal-Organic Frameworks and Coordination Polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2013), Stuart Batten, Neil Champness, Xiao-Ming Cheng, Javier Garcia-Martinez, Susumu Kitagawa, Lars Öhrström, Michael O’Keeffe, Myunghyun Paik Suh, Jan Reedijk, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 85, 1715-1724, 2013 

2.  (b) Ongoing projects, see: https://iupac.org/projects/project-details/?project_nr=2011-035-1-800 and https://iupac.org/projects/project-details/?project_nr=2014-001-2-200

3. Framework Chemistry Transforming our Perception of the Solid State, L. Öhrström, ACS Central Science, 2017, 3, 528–530