Are Zr₆-based MOFs water stable? Linker hydrolysis vs. capillary-force-driven channel collapse

Chem Commun (Camb). 2014 Aug 18;50(64):8944-6. doi: 10.1039/c4cc02401j.

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) built up from Zr6-based nodes and multi-topic carboxylate linkers have attracted attention due to their favourable thermal and chemical stability. However, the hydrolytic stability of some of these Zr6-based MOFs has recently been questioned. Herein we demonstrate that two Zr6-based frameworks, namely UiO-67 and NU-1000, are stable towards linker hydrolysis in H2O, but collapse during activation from H2O. Importantly, this framework collapse can be overcome by utilizing solvent-exchange to solvents exhibiting lower capillary forces such as acetone.