Better Living Through Nanopore Chemistry

Abstract

Materials with small holes such as zeolites possess enormous combined surface area for promoting chemical reactions and producing high-value products. But the chemical compositions of zeolites are limited and offer little catalytic benefit for the entire class of important reactants. In their Perspective, [Hupp and Poeppelmeier][1] discuss results reported in the same issue by [ Férey et al. ][2] in which the authors have synthesized a highly porous hybrid material based on interlinked organic and inorganic building blocks. The material, designated MIL-101, is crystalline and features a hierarchy of cavity sizes. Exhibiting a surface area about seven times that of the most catalytically effective zeolites, MIL-101 should stimulate a vigorous search for new hybrid nanoporous catalysts. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5743/2008 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/309/5743/2040