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Bailey, Jake B.

Publications and source records attributed to Bailey, Jake B..

Metal-hydrogen-pi-bonded organic frameworks

We report the synthesis and characterization of a new series of permanently porous, three-dimensional metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), M-HAF-2 (M = Fe, Ga, or In), constructed from tetratopic, hydroxamate-based, chelating linkers. Here, the structure of M-HAF-2 was determined by three-dimensional electron diffraction (3D ED), revealing a unique interpenetrated hcb-a net topology. This unusual topology is enabled by the presence of free hydroxamic acid groups, which lead to the formation of a diverse network of cooperative interactions comprising metal–hydroxamate coordination interactions at single metal nodes, staggered π–π interactions between linkers, and H-bonding interactions between metal-coordinated and free hydroxamate groups. Such extensive, multimodal interconnectivity is reminiscent of the complex, noncovalent interaction networks of proteins and endows M-HAF-2 frameworks with high thermal and chemical stability and allows them to readily undergo postsynthetic metal ion exchange (PSE) between trivalent metal ions. We demonstrate that M-HAF-2 can serve as versatile porous materials for ionic separations, aided by one-dimensional channels lined by continuously π-stacked aromatic groups and H-bonding hydroxamate functionalities. As an addition to the small group of hydroxamic acid-based MOFs, M-HAF-2 represents a structural merger between MOFs and hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) and illustrates the utility of non-canonical metal-coordinating functionalities in the discovery of new bonding and topological patterns in reticular materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Design of metal-mediated protein assemblies via hydroxamic acid functionalities

The self-assembly of proteins into sophisticated multicomponent assemblies is a hallmark of all living systems and has spawned extensive efforts in the construction of novel synthetic protein architectures with emergent functional properties. Protein assemblies in nature are formed via selective association of multiple protein surfaces through intricate noncovalent protein-protein interactions, a challenging task to accurately replicate in the de novo design of multiprotein systems. In this protocol, we describe the application of metal-coordinating hydroxamate (HA) motifs to direct the metal-mediated assembly of polyhedral protein architectures and 3D crystalline protein frameworks (protein-MOFs). This strategy has been implemented using an asymmetric cytochrome cb562 monomer through selective, concurrent association of Fe 3+ and Zn 2+ ions to form polyhedral cages. Furthermore, the use of ditopic HA linkers as bridging ligands with metal-binding protein nodes has allowed the construction of crystalline 3D protein-MOF lattices. The protocol is divided into two major sections: (1) the development of a Cys-reactive HA molecule for protein derivatization and self-assembly of protein-HA conjugates into polyhedral cages and (2) the synthesis of ditopic HA bridging ligands for the construction of ferritin-based protein-MOFs using symmetric metal-binding protein nodes. Furthermore, protein cages can be analyzed using analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (sc-XRD) techniques. HA-mediated protein-MOFs are formed in sitting-drop vapor diffusion crystallization trays and are probed via sc-XRD and multi-crystal small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements. Ligand synthesis, construction of HA-mediated assemblies, and post-assembly analysis as described in this protocol can be performed by a graduate-level researcher within six weeks.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Anisotropic Dynamics and Mechanics of Macromolecular Crystals Containing Lattice-Patterned Polymer Networks

The mechanical and functional properties of many crystalline materials depend on cooperative changes in lattice arrangements in response to external perturbations. However, the flexibility and adaptiveness of crystalline materials are limited. Additionally, the bottom-up, molecular-level design of crystals with desired dynamic and mechanical properties at the macroscopic level remains a considerable challenge. To address these challenges, we had previously integrated mesoporous, cubic ferritin crystals with hydrogel networks, resulting in hybrid materials (polymer integrated crystals or PIX) which could undergo dramatic structural changes while maintaining crystalline periodicity and display efficient self-healing. Here, the dynamics and mechanics of these ferritin-PIX were devoid of directionality, which is an important attribute of many molecular and macroscopic materials/devices. In this study, we report that such directionality can be achieved through the use of ferritin crystals with anisotropic symmetries (rhombohedral or trigonal), which enable the templated formation of patterned hydrogel networks in crystallo. The resulting PIX expand and contract anisotropically without losing crystallinity, undergo prompt bending motions in response to stimuli, and self-heal efficiently, capturing some of the essential features of sophisticated biological devices like skeletal muscles.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Tunable and Cooperative Thermomechanical Properties of Protein-Metal-Organic Frameworks

We recently introduced protein-metal-organic frameworks (protein-MOFs) as chemically designed protein crystals, composed of ferritin nodes that predictably assemble into 3D lattices upon coordination of various metal ions and ditopic, hydrox-amate-based linkers. Owing to their unique tripartite construction, protein-MOFs possess extremely sparse lattice connectivi-ty, suggesting that they might display unusual thermomechanical properties. Leveraging the synthetic modularity of ferritin-MOFs, we investigated the temperature-dependent structural dynamics of six distinct frameworks. Our results show that the thermostabilities of ferritin-MOFs can be tuned through the metal component or the presence of crowding agents. Our stud-ies also reveal a framework that undergoes a reversible and isotropic first-order phase transition near-room temperature, corre-sponding to a 4% volumetric change within ≤1 deg C and a hysteresis window of ~10 deg C. Here, this highly cooperative crystal-to-crystal transformation, which stems from the soft crystallinity of ferritin-MOFs, illustrates the advantage of modular con-struction strategies in discovering tunable–and unpredictable–material properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗