Chiral Isocamphoric Acid: Founding a Large Family of Homochiral Porous Materials

Homochiral metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are an important class of chiral solids with potential applications in chiral recognition; however, relatively few are available. Of great importance is the availability of low‐cost, racemization‐resistant, and versatile enantiopure building blocks. Among chiral building blocks, d ‐camphoric acid is highly prolific, yet, its trans‐isomer, l ‐isocamphoric acid, has remained unknown in the entire field of solid‐state materials. Its rich yet totally untapped synthetic and structural chemistry has now been investigated through the synthesis of a large family of homochiral metal isocamphorates. The first observation of diastereoisomerism in isostructural MOFs is presented. Isocamphorate has a powerful ability to create framework topologies unexpected from common inorganic building blocks, and isocamphoric acid should allow access to hundreds of new homochiral materials.