Anion binding in metal-organic frameworks

Abstract Despite commonly being used as the hosts for gases, solvents and other neutral molecules, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received recent attention as supramolecular anion binding hosts with a broad range of environmental and biological applications. The review summarizes the development of this area, with the anion-binding MOFs categorized based on different design strategies including cationic MOFs with anion-exchange capabilities, neutral MOFs that feature anion coordination to metal nodes, as well as MOFs functionalized with non-covalent or covalent anion-recognition motifs. We also discuss the advantages of using the MOF scaffold for anion binding compared with small-molecules anion receptors.