Green synthesis of reticular materials

Abstract

To help ensure a prosperous future on Earth for coming generations, academia and industry need to transform the way they plan and carry out the synthesis of novel materials to make them more environmentally sustainable. In particular the field of reticular materials, i.e., metal- organic frameworks, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks and covalent organic frameworks, has great potential to outperform other materials and revolutionize various fields of applications. This review highlights several key aspects from the choice of their starting materials, solvents and synthetic methodologies that fall under the umbrella of the Green Chemistry principles, and incorporates a Circular Economy perspective by providing relevant strategies such as re-use, regeneration or recycling to maximize the value of the Earth’s available resources. Moreover, it will shed light on the life cycle assessment results of selected reticular materials and consider how constraints imposed by Green Chemistry principles, life cycle assessments metrics and circular patterns will shape the future rational sustainable design and discovery of reticular materials.