Glass and Liquid States of Coordination Polymer Crystals

Abstract

The chemistry of coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks, MOFs, has dominantly progressed with the development of crystallography. The study of "disordered systems" such as liquid and glassy states of coordination polymers and MOFs has been developed in recent years, and various methods have been recognized to produce glasses from crystals. The structures of the glass and liquid phases are investigated using synchrotron radiation X-rays and spectroscopies. Many of them have the coordination bond-based networked structure found in the crystal structures. This suggests that the structural design principles of coordination chemistry can be applied to glasses and liquids of coordination polymers and MOFs. The inherent properties of the disordered systems, such as wide compositions and high internal degrees of freedom, high materials' formability, and softness contribute to the coupled physicochemical properties. In this review, the recent development of coordination polymer liquids and glasses is presented with a focus on the authors' group research.