A Selective Instant Synthesis of a Coordination Network and Its Ab Initio Powder Structure Determination

Fast powders and slow crystals: A uniform powder sample of a flexible porous coordination network is prepared in high yield by kinetically controlled synthesis and its crystal structure solved by synchrotron ab initio powder X-ray diffraction (see picture). Crystals of a totally different porous network with larger channels for guest encapsulation are also obtained by thermodynamic control in a slow crystallization process.