Crystal engineering of porphyrin framework solids

This article describes recent achievements made by us and other groups in targeted synthesis of porphyrin-based framework solids by various non-covalent mechanisms of molecular recognition. The self-assembly processes are effected in a tunable manner either by direct association of suitably designed porphyrin building blocks, or by their supramolecular aggregation through external linkers as metal ions and organic bi-dentate ligands. Many of these crystalline porphyrin materials exhibit open architectures and remarkable structural integrity, and their potential application for selective guest storage and molecular sieving is highlighted.