Synthesis and guest inclusion for molecular catcher-based structure determination.

A pillar[5]arene-incorporated MOF “molecular catcher” enables rapid single-crystal X-ray structure determination of long-alkyl-chain compounds without growing guest single crystals, finishing within 10 d.

• Why it matters: Long alkyl chains are hard to crystallize, blocking conventional single-crystal X-ray diffraction and leaving molecular structures difficult to determine.
• What they did: The protocol synthesizes the pillar[5]arene-containing MOF from a pillar[5]arene derivative, a commercially available tetraphenyl ethylene derivative, and zinc nitrate hexahydrate in N,N-dimethylformamide, then soaks MOF crystals in target solutions. Optical microscopy is used to select MOF crystals by size and quality, and crystals are washed with fresh N,N-dimethylformamide for direct guest inclusion.
• The result: Soaking yields target-included MOF crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction, allowing the full workflow from starting materials to structure determination in 10 d.

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