University of Minnesota
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04/30/2013

Reactivity potential of metal-organic frameworks

Postdoctoral associate Nora Planas and Graduate Student Allison L. Dzubak, under the guidance of Professor Laura Gagliardi, in collaboration with the groups of Professors Jeffrey Long and Berend Smit, University of California, Berkeley, studied the mechanism of carbon dioxide adsorption in the amine-functionalized metal-organic framework mmen-Mg2(dobpdc) by quantum chemical calculations.

In a communication published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers reported that the material demonstrates two amine to two CO2 stoichiometry with a higher capacity and weaker CO2 binding energy than that of the two to one stoichiometry observed in most amine-functionalized adsorbents. This behavior was explained in the form of a hydrogen-bonded complex, involving two carbamic acid moieties resulting from the adsorption of CO2 onto the secondary amines. The adsorption mechanism elucidated in this study is a clear example of the high potential of metal-organic frameworks to exhibit new types of reactivity.

This research is supported by the Nanoporous Materials Genome Center at the University of Minnesota.