Old Materials for New Functions: Recent Progress on Metal Cyanide Based Porous Materials

Cyanide is the simplest ligand with strong basicity to construct open frameworks including some of the oldest compounds reported in the history of coordination chemistry. Cyanide can form numerous cyanometallates with different transition metal ions showing diverse geometries. Rational design of robust extended networks is enabled by the strong bonding nature and high directionality of cyanide ligand. By virtue of a combination of cyanometallates and/or organic linkers, multifunctional framework materials can be targeted and readily synthesized for various applications, ranging from molecular adsorptions/separations to energy conversion and storage, and spin‐crossover materials. External guest‐ and stimuli‐responsive behaviors in cyanide‐based materials are also highlighted for the development of the next‐generation smart materials. In this review, an overview of the recent progress of cyanide‐based multifunctional materials is presented to demonstrate the great potential of cyanide ligands in the development of modern coordination chemistry and material science.