Abstract
Interpenetration (catenation) has long been considered a major impediment in the achievement of stable and porous crystalline structures. A strategy for the design of highly porous and structurally stable networks makes use of metal-organic building blocks that can be assembled on a triply periodic
P
-minimal geometric surface to produce structures that are interpenetrating—more accurately considered as interwoven. We used 4,4′,4"-benzene-1,3,5-triyl-tribenzoic acid (H
3
BTB), copper(II) nitrate, and
N
,
N
′-dimethylformamide (DMF) to prepare Cu
3
(BTB)
2
(H
2
O)
3
·(DMF)
9
(H
2
O)
2
(MOF-14), whose structure reveals a pair of interwoven metal-organic frameworks that are mutually reinforced. The structure contains remarkably large pores, 16.4 angstroms in diameter, in which voluminous amounts of gases and organic solvents can be reversibly sorbed.