Water sandwiched by a pair of aromatic rings in a proton-conducting metal-organic framework

Dalton Trans. 2016 Nov 15;45(45):18142-18146. doi: 10.1039/c6dt03632e.

Abstract

The interactions between water molecules and aromatic rings are known to be common and important in physics, chemistry and life sciences. Benzene-water complexes are the main prototype systems for O-Hπ and lone-pair (lp)π interactions in theoretical research, however solid state examples are very rare. Here, the solid state example of water sandwiched by a pair of aromatic rings is observed in a silver-mellitate framework, where lpπ and O-Hπ interactions coexist. The coexistence of these two interactions has been further verified by theoretical calculations. In addition, ammonium ions and water molecules as proton sources, and strongly H-bonded nets as the pathway of proton transport, make the reported MOFs (metal-organic frameworks) exhibit distinct proton conduction.