Chemical Engineering Seminar - Programmable Smart Bio-Inspired Sponges

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are an emerging class of solid-state materials built up  from metal-based nodes and organic linkers. They exhibit permanent porosity and unprecedented surface areas which can be readily tuned through coordination chemistry at the inorganic node and/or organic chemistry at the linkers. The high porosities, tunability, and stability are highly attractive in the context of catalysis. As exemplified by many catalytic enzyme assemblies in nature, site-isolation is a powerful strategy for performing catalytic reactions. MOFs provide an exciting platform for deploying catalysts in a site-isolated fashion and the cavities surrounding them can be engineered to conceptually mimic enzymes. This talk will address new advances in the synthesis and catalytic activity of MOF/Enzyme composite materials developed at Northwestern University.