Post‐Synthetic Modification of Zr‐Metal–Organic Frameworks through Cycloaddition Reactions

Cycloaddition reactions are highly attractive for post‐synthetic modification of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). We report herein on cycloaddition reactions with PIZOF(R¹,R²)s, which are porous interpenetrated Zr‐based MOFs with Zr₆O₄(OH)₄(CO₂)₁₂ as the nodes and the dicarboxylates ^?O₂C[PE‐P(R¹,R²)‐EP]CO₂^? (P: phenylene, E: ethynylene; R¹, R²: side chains at the central phenylene unit) as the linkers. 1,3‐Dipolar cycloaddition between the pendant ethyne moieties of PIZOF(OMe,OCH₂C?CH) and 4‐methylbenzyl azide resulted in 98 % conversion of the ethyne groups. Reactions of PIZOF(OMe,O(CH₂)₃furan) with maleimide, N‐methylmaleimide, and N‐phenylmaleimide converted 98, 99, and 89 % of the furan moieties into the Diels–Alder adducts. However, no reaction occurred with maleic anhydride. High‐resolution ¹H NMR spectra were crucial in determining the conversion and identifying the reaction products. Of all the reagents (NaOD/D₂O, D₂SO₄, Bu₄NF, CsF, CsF/DCl, and KHF₂) tested for the disassembly of the PIZOFs in [D₆]DMSO, the combination of CsF and DCl was found to be the best. The disassembly at room temperature was fast (5–15 min), and after the addition of K₂CO₃ the ¹H NMR data were identical to those of the diacids (=protonated linkers) dissolved in pure DMSO. This allowed for simple structure elucidation through data comparison. CsF/DCl dissolves not only PIZOFs but also the hydrolytically very stable UiO‐66.