Design, Synthesis and Applications of Lanthanide Metal-Organic Frameworks based on 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid

The organic linker 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (BTC) has been widely used in the construction of lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) due the high symmetry and versatile nature of its structure. Under identical hydrothermal reaction conditions, it was discovered that lanthanide BTC MOFs will form one of four unique structures based on its location in the series (La-Sm, Eu-Tb, Dy-Tm, Yb-Lu). This is uncommon in LOF materials, as in many cases the same compound can be produced for all of the lanthanides or two different structures may be observed for the first and second half of the series. Descriptions and comparisons of these structures as discussed herein, noticeably the decrease in coordination number and the lanthanide-oxygen bond lengths as the lanthanide atomic number increases. This thesis also attempts to use these compounds to catalyze a model mixed-aldol reaction. Two closely related BTC compounds from yttrium and uranium are also presented. The structure of the yttrium BTC MOFs was identical to that of the Eu, Gd and Tb compounds.