Postsynthetic Treatment of ZIF-67 with 5-Methyltetrazole: Evolution from Pseudo-T d to Pseudo-O h Symmetry and Collapse of Magnetic Ordering.

Reaction of Co(II) nitrate with 2-methylimidazole (2mIm) yields ZIF-67, the structure of which features Co(II) ions in pseudo-tetrahedral coordination geometry. Strong antiferromagnetic interactions between Co(II) ions mediated by the 2mIm ligands lead to antiferromagnetic ordering at 22 K. Postsynthetic treatment of Co(II) ZIF-67 with 5-methyltetrazole (5mT) results in the loss of crystallinity and magnetic order. The local structure of the Co(II) ions was probed by a combination of diffuse-reflectance electronic absorption spectroscopy and Co K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (in the XANES and EXAFS regions). Upon reaction with 5mT, the 4 A 2 (F)- 4 T 1 (F) and 4 A 2 (F)- 4 T 1 (P) transitions at 1140 and 585 nm, respectively, of the pseudo-tetrahedral Co(II) center in ZIF-67 become less prominent and are replaced by transitions at 990 and 475 nm attributable to the 4 T 1g (F)- 4 T 2g (F) and 4 T 1g (F)- 4 T 1g (P) transitions of a pseudo-octahedral Co(II) center, respectively. Furthermore, the 1s-3d pre-edge absorption feature in the Co K-edge XANES spectrum loses intensity during this reaction, and the edge feature becomes more sharp, consistent with a change from pseudo-T d to pseudo-O h geometry. EXAFS analysis further supports the proposed change in geometry: EXAFS data for ZIF-67 are well fitted to four Co-N scatterers at 1.99 Å, whereas the data for the 5mT-substituted compound are best fitted with 6 Co-N scatterers at 2.14 Å. Our results support the conclusion that a six-coordinate, pseudo-O h geometry is adopted upon ligand substitution. The increase in coordination number directly increases the Co-N bond distances, which in turn weakens magnetic exchange interactions. No magnetic ordering is found in the 5mT-substituted materials.