Mechanochemical and solvent-free assembly of zirconium-based metal–organic frameworks

We develop the first mechanochemical and solvent-free routes for zirconium metal–organic frameworks, making the frameworks UiO-66 and UiO-66-NH(2) accessible on the gram scale without strong acids, high temperatures or excess reactants. The frameworks form either by milling, or spontaneous self-assembly by simply exposing solid mixtures of reactants to organic vapour. The generated frameworks exhibit high porosity and catalytic activity in the hydrolysis of model nerve agents, on par with their solvothermally generated counterparts.