The perceptible appearance of biomolecules as prospective building blocks in the architecture of coordination polymers (CPs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are redolent of their inclusion in the synthon/tecton library of reticular chemistry. In this frame, for the first time a synthetic strategy has been established for amine derivatization in amino acids into 1,2,4-triazoles. A set of novel 1,2,4-triazole derivatized amino acids were introduced as superlative precursors in the design of 1D coordination polymers, 2D chiral helicates and 3D metal-organic frameworks. Applications associated with these compounds are diverse and include gas adsorption-porosity partitioning, soft sacrificial matrix for morphology and phase selective cadmium oxide synthesis, FeII spin crossover materials, zinc-b-lactamases inhibitors, logistics for generation of chiral/non-centrosymmetric networks; and thus led to a foundation of a new family of functional CPs and MOFs that are reviewed in this invited contribution.
Naik, A. D., Dirtu, M. M., Railliet, A., Marchand-Brynaert, J., & Garcia, Y. (2011). Coordination polymers and metal organic frameworks derived from 1,2,4-triazole amino acid linkers. Polymer, 3, 1750-1775. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym3041750 (Original work published 2011)