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The design of an active, effective, and economically viable catalyst for CO 2 conversion into value-added products is crucial in the fight against global warming and energy demand. We have developed very efficient catalysts for reverse water-gas shift (rWGS) reaction. Specific conditions of the synthesis by combustion allow the obtention of macroporous materials based on nanosized Ni particles supported on a mixed oxide of high purity and crystallinity. Here, we show that Ni/La-doped CeO 2 catalysts─with the "right" Ni and La proportions─have an unprecedented catalytic performance per unit mass of catalyst for the rWGS reaction as the first step toward CO 2 valorization. Correlations between physicochemical properties and catalytic activity, obtained using a combination of different techniques such as X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, in situ near ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and catalytic testing, point out to optimum values for the Ni loading and the La proportion. Density functional theory calculations of elementary steps of the reaction on model Ni/ceria catalysts aid toward the microscopic understanding of the nature of the active sites. This finding offers a fundamental basis for developing economical catalysts that can be effectively used for CO 2 reduction with hydrogen. A catalyst based on Ni 0.07 /(Ce 0.9 La 0.1 O x ) 0.93 shows a CO production of 58 × 10 -5 mol CO ·g cat -1 ·s -1 (700 °C, H 2 /CO 2 = 2; selectivity to CO > 99.5), being stable for 100 h under continuous reaction.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C8SC02842G.].

Covalent organic nanosheets (CONs) have attracted much attention because of their excellent physical, chemical, electronic, and optical properties. Although covalent organic nanosheets have widely been used in many applications, there are only a few CONs that have been tested for bio-medical applications. Nanometer sized triazine-based nanosheets were obtained by exfoliating their bulk counterparts in water. The obtained nanosheets were dispersible and stable in water with enhanced photoluminescence properties compared to the bulk material. The nanosheets were biocompatible and non-toxic and showed ability to stain HeLa cell nuclei without additional assistance of an external targeting agent.

The preparation of materials with structures composed of multiple metal cations that occupy specific sites is challenging owing to the difficulty of simultaneously addressing the incorporation of different elements at desired precise positions. We report how it is possible to use a metal-organic framework (MOF) built with a rod-shaped inorganic secondary building unit (SBU) to combine multiple metal elements at specific positions in a manner that is controllable at atomic and mesoscopic scales. Through the combination of four different metal elements at judiciously selected molar ratios, 20 MOFs of different compositions and the same topology have been prepared and characterized. The use of diffraction techniques, supported by density functional theory calculations, has led us to determine various possible atomic arrangements of the metal cations within the SBUs. In addition, seven of the compounds combine multiple types of atomic arrangements, which are mesoscopically distributed along the crystals. Given the large diversity and importance of rod-based MOFs, we believe that these findings offer a new general strategy to produce complex materials with required compositions and controllable arrangements of the metal cations for desired applications.

Herein we report a synthetic study focused on the preparation of solid-solution metal-organic frameworks, MOFs, with the use of two kinds of linkers. In particular, we have explored the system composed by zinc, cobalt, 1,2,4-triazole and 4,4′-hexafluoroisopropylidenebisbenzoic acid (H2hfipbb). During this study, four new MOFs have been isolated, denoted TMPF-88 [M3(hfipbb)2(triazole)2(H2O)], TMPF-90 [M2(triazole)3(OCH2CH3)], TMPF-91 [M2(hfipbb)(triazole)2(H2O)] and TMPF-95 [M5(hfipbb)4(triazole)2(H2O)] (TMPF = transition metal polymeric framework, M = Zn, Co, or mixture of them). The study demonstrates that the addition of a second metal element during the MOF synthesis has a major effect in the formation of new phases, even at very high Zn/Co metal ratios. Furthermore, we show that during the MOF formation reaction, there is a competition among different crystal phases, where kinetically favoured phases of various compositions crystallize in short reaction times, precluding the formation of the pure solid-solution phases of other energetically more stable MOFs.

The synthesis and crystal structure evolution of the double perovskite Pb2YSbO6 is reported for the first time. The structure has been analyzed in the temperature range between 100 and 500 K by using a combination of synchrotron and neutron powder diffraction. This compound shows two consecutive first order phase transformations as previously observed for a subgroup of Pb2RSbO6 perovkites (R = rare earths). The thermodynamic parameters associated with the phase transitions were calculated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the role of the diverse cations of the structure was studied from DFT calculations for the room temperature polymorph. The crystal structure evolves from a C2/c monoclinic structure (a(-)b(-)b(-) tilting system in Glazer's notation) to another monoclinic P2(1)/n (a(-)a(-)b(+)) phase with an incommensurate modulation and finally to a cubic Fm3m perovskite (a(0)a(0)a(0)). The highly distorted nature of the room temperature crystal structure seems to be driven by the polarization of the Pb lone pair which shows a marked local effect in the atomic spatial arrangements. Moreover, the lone pairs have been localized from DFT calculations and show an antiferroelectric ordering along the b monoclinic axis.

A metal-organic framework (MOF) bearing the aqua-hydroxo species (O2H3)(-) in the framework, as well as the processes that govern the equilibrium aqua-hydroxo (O2H3)(-)↔hydroxyl (OH) in Sc-MOFs, are studied experimentally and theoretically. Computational studies were employed to determine the relative energies for the two compounds that coexist under certain hydrothermal conditions at pH < 2.8. The thermodynamically more stable [Sc3(3,5-DSB)2(μ-O2H3)(μ-OH)2(H2O)2] (from now on, (O2H3)Sc-MOF; 3,5-DSB = 3,5-disulfobenzoic acid) was obtained as a pure and stable phase. It was impossible to isolate [Sc3(3,5-DSB)2(μ-OH)3(H2O)4] as a pure phase, as it turned out to be the precursor of (O2H3)Sc-MOF. Additionally, a third compound that appears at pH between 3.5 and 4, [Sc3(3,5-DSB)(μ-OH)6(H2O)] and a fourth, [Sc(3,5-DSB)(Phen)(H2O)](H2O), in whose formula neither OH groups nor H3O2(-) anions appear, are reported for comparative purposes. A study of the (O2H3)Sc-MOF electronic structure, and some heterogeneous catalytic tests in cyanosilylation of aldehydes reactions, are also reported.

This work is to emphasize the influence of the synthetic procedures in the isolation of different coordination polymers that coexist under hydro-/solvothermal conditions. An experimental and theoretical study in the Mg(2+):4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(benzoic acid):1,10-phenantroline system has been carried out. Computational studies have determined the relative energies for those compounds that coexist under certain hydrothermal conditions, and have helped to identify the driving forces for the formation of the different phases. The five new compounds belong to five different structural types: AEPF-14, which presents two polymorphs (α- and β-) ([Mg(H(2)O)(4)(phen)(2)]L), AEPF-15 ([Mg(HL)(2)(phen)]) and AEPF-16 ([Mg(H(2)O)(2)(L)(phen)]) are both 1D MOFs (AEPF-16 with a helical structure), and AEPF-17 ([Mg(H(2)O)(L)(phen)]) with a 2D structure. Hydrogen bond interactions found in the five compounds have been taken into account to study the topology of their supramolecular nets. Finally, dehydration studies performed on AEPF-14 (α- and β-) and AEPF-16 have shown that the topological type of their supramolecular networks determines the structural changes that take place during the dehydration processes of these Mg compounds.

Herein, we present a Ca-based metal-organic framework named AEPF-1, which is an active and selective catalyst in olefin hydrogenation reactions. AEPF-1 exhibits a phase transition upon desorption of guest molecules. This structural transformation takes place by a crystal to crystal transformation accompanied by the loss of single-crystal integrity. Powder diffraction methods and computational studies were applied to determine the structure of the guest-free phase. This work also presents data on the exceptional adsorption behavior of this material, which is shown to be capable of separating polar from nonpolar organic solvents, and is a good candidate for selective solvent adsorption under mild conditions., (Copyright © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Two new layered polymeric frameworks have been synthesized under different hydrothermal conditions and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, and variable temperature-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (VT-FTIR). The compound I, with formula [Er(2)(dms)(3)(H(2)O)(4)], has a triclinic cell with parameters a = 5.8506 A, b = 9.8019 A, c = 11.9747 A, alpha = 70.145 degrees , beta = 80.234 degrees , and gamma = 89.715 degrees , and the compound II, [Er(2)(dms)(3)(H(2)O)], is monoclinic and its cell parameters are a = 11.1794 A, b = 18.2208 A, c = 12.7944 A, beta = 112.4270 degrees , where dms = 2,2-dimethylsuccinate ligand. A theoretical study including energy calculations of the dms conformers was carried out at the Density Functional Theory (DFT-B3LYP) level of theory, using the 6-311G* basis set. Further calculations of the apparent formation energies of I and II crystalline structures were performed by means of the periodic density functional theory, using DF plane-waves. The analysis of the structural features, theoretical relative stabilities, and the influence of synthesis conditions are presented here. The heterogeneous catalytic activity of the new compounds is tested and reported.

RPF-4 is a family of polymeric frameworks prepared with rare-earth elements and the versatile ligand 4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(benzoic acid). We have found that during the synthesis procedure up to three different polymorphs can be obtained. Their crystal structures are here presented. The three networks have unusual topologies, the three being uninodal penta-coordinated, two of them unknown up to now, and the other named hxg-d-5-Imma. They are here described and compared. DFT calculations of the relative energies for the three polymorphs show that the most often obtained structure is a metastable phase, which appears to be, next to others, thermodynamically more stable.