Porous isoreticular non-metal organic frameworks. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38778105/)

These scientists wanted to create new materials that are good at trapping other molecules inside them. They usually use metal and organic compounds to make these materials, but this time they wanted to see if they could make them without using any metals.

So, they used their knowledge of chemistry and a special computer program to design new materials made of organic salts. These salts are made up of tightly packed clusters of ions that help the material to form specific shapes when it solidifies.

By using the computer program, they were able to predict how these salt materials would look and how they would behave. They found that some of these salt materials could trap molecules like iodine very well, even better than the materials they usually make with metals. This could be useful for capturing radioactive iodine, for example.

Overall, they discovered a new way to make materials that are good at trapping other molecules, and they can make a lot of these materials easily. This opens up new possibilities for creating different kinds of materials that can do cool things!

O'Shaughnessy M., Glover J., Hafizi R., Barhi M., Clowes R., Chong SY., Argent SP., Day GM., Cooper AI. Porous isoreticular non-metal organic frameworks. Nature. 2024 May 22. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07353-9.