Organically pillared microporous zirconium phosphonates

There is great technological interest in the design of multifunctional microporous materials, particularly those with pores in the 10-20 Angstrom range. The many attempts to achieve this goal through cross-linking zirconium phosphate-like layers by use of several types of diphosphonic acids will be described. A variety of functionalized pillared materials are also described with potential as sorbents and catalysts. The advances in synthetic methods now achieved promises to produce a wide variety of porous materials with controlled pore sizes and varying degrees of hydrophilic-hydrophobic character whose chemical behavior will be mediated by the incorporation of diverse functional groups as part of the pillars.