Coordination polymer

Figure 1. An illustration of 1- 2- and 3-dimensionality.

A coordination polymer is an inorganic or organometallic polymer structure containing metal cation centers linked by ligands. More formally a coordination polymer is a coordination compound with repeating coordination entities extending in 1, 2, or 3 dimensions.[1][2]

It can also be described as a polymer whose repeat units are coordination complexes. Coordination polymers contain the subclass coordination networks that are coordination compounds extending, through repeating coordination entities, in 1 dimension, but with cross-links between two or more individual chains, loops, or spiro-links, or a coordination compound extending through repeating coordination entities in 2 or 3 dimensions. A subclass of these are the metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, that are coordination networks with organic ligands containing potential voids.[1]

Coordination polymers are relevant to many fields, having many potential applications.[3]

Coordination polymers can be classified in a number of ways according to their structure and composition. One important classification is referred to as dimensionality. A structure can be determined to be one-, two- or three-dimensional, depending on the number of directions in space the array extends in. A one-dimensional structure extends in a straight line (along the x axis); a two-dimensional structure extends in a plane (two directions, x and y axes); and a three-dimensional structure extends in all three directions (x, y, and z axes).[4] This is depicted in Figure 1.

  1. ^ a b Batten, Stuart R.; Champness, Neil R.; Chen, Xiao-Ming; Garcia-Martinez, Javier; Kitagawa, Susumu; Öhrström, Lars; O'Keeffe, Michael; Suh, Myunghyun P.; Reedijk, Jan (2013). "Terminology of metal–organic frameworks and coordination polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2013)" (PDF). Pure and Applied Chemistry. 85 (8): 1715. doi:10.1351/PAC-REC-12-11-20.
  2. ^ Biradha, Kumar; Ramanan, Arunachalam; Vittal, Jagadese J. (2009). "Coordination Polymers Versus Metal−Organic Frameworks". Crystal Growth & Design. 9 (7): 2969–2970. doi:10.1021/cg801381p.
  3. ^ Fromm, K. (2008). "Coordination polymer networks with s-block metal ions" (PDF). Coord. Chem. Rev. 252 (8–9): 856–885. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2007.10.032.
  4. ^ Chen, X; Ye, B.; Tong, M. (2005). "Metal-organic molecular architectures with 2,2′-bipyridyl-like and carboxylate ligands". Coord. Chem. Rev. 249 (5–6): 545–565. doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2004.07.006.