Conjugated Nonplanar Copper-Catecholate Conductive Metal-Organic Frameworks via Contorted Hexabenzocoronene Ligands for Electrical Conduction

Conductive metal-organic frameworks (c-MOFs) with outstanding electrical conductivities and high charge carrier mobilities are promising candidates for electronics and optoelec-tronics. However, the poor solubility of planar ligands greatly hinders the synthesis and widespread applications of c-MOFs. Nonplanar ligands with excellent solubility in organic solvents are ideal alternatives to construct c-MOFs. Herein, contorted hexabenzocoronene (c-HBC) derivatives with good solubility are adopted to synthesize c-MOFs. Three c-MOFs (c-HBC-6O-Cu, c-HBC-8O-Cu, and c-HBC-12O-Cu) with substantially different geometries and packing modes have been synthesized using three multitopic catechol-based c-HBC ligands with different symmetries and coordination numbers, respectively. With more metal coordination centers and increased charge transport pathways, c-HBC-12O-Cu exhibits the highest intrinsic electrical conductivity of 3.31 S m-1. Time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy reveals high charge carrier mobilities in c-HBC-based c-MOFs, ranging from 38 to 64 cm2 V-1 s-1. This work provides a systematic and modular approach to fine-tune the structure and enrich the c-MOF family with excellent charge transport properties using nonplanar and highly soluble ligands.