Homochiral Cluster-Organic Frameworks Constructed from Enantiopure Lactate Derivatives

Two enantiopure organic linkers ((<i>R</i>)-H₃CIA and (<i>S</i>)-H₃CIA) derived from lactic acid have been synthesized and used to construct four pairs of homochiral metal–organic frameworks (HMOFs) with polymetallic building blocks. Crystallographic analysis indicates that H₃CIA ligands can connect tetranuclear zinc units into <b>kgd</b> type layered structure, while the introduction of nitrogen heterocycle auxiliary ligands into this system gives rise to the formation of three-dimensional homochiral MOFs with different structural topologies. Physical characteristics of these complexes are also carried out, including thermal stabilities, solid-state circular dichroism (CD), and photoluminescent properties. Our results highlight the effective method to apply inexpensive and nontoxic chiral ligands to prepare interesting HMOFs