Click Chemistry to Metal-Organic Frameworks as a Synthetic Tool for MOF and Applications for Functional Materials

Abstract

Metal-organic Frameworks (MOF) are a new class of functional crystalline materials with the large nanopores and open frame structures. The controlled nanoporous structures attract for various applications such as gas sorption, catalysis, biomedical applications, and transport materials for electronic and photophysical devices. For the large demands on preparing the advanced functional materials based on theMOF, the functionalization of the MOF has been attracted significant attention for controlling the environments of the nanopores in the past decade. Among them, the most fruitful approach is post-synthetic modification (PSM) of the MOF.The PSM is defined as the modification of the organic ligands in the frameworks of the MOF by chemical reactions, especially organic reactions, after the formation of the MOF as crystalline materials. In this review, we focus the PSM of the MOF by copper(I)-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) and the related reactions that have many advantages such as diverse substrates, mild conditions, high yields, high 1,4-regio-selectivity, and high orthogonality for other organic reactions, and wide availability of the media. Furthermore, we discuss the control of the functions of the MOF and the preparation of the functional composites based on the MOF by the CuAAC of the MOF. Therefore, this review includes the following four topics: The exploration of CuAAC reaction for PSM in MOF, the development of other click reactions for PSM, the function-oriented PSM by CuAAC reaction, and networking and biocongujation of MOF.