ИСТИНА

While metal-organic frameworks (MOF’s) are literally countless and have fairly received great attention in recent decades, their all-inorganic counterparts, metal-inorganic frameworks (MIF’s), are less numerous and fragmentarily studied but not a bit less fascinating. Sharing important constitutive properties with their organic analogues, MIF’s feature d-metal cations, linkers, and guest moieties that together assemble complex yet beautiful crystal structures. In this paper, we will discuss the diversity of the crystal structures of various MIF’s. We will focus on assemblies comprised of cationic frameworks built upon ions and clusters of late transition metals and linkers based on group 15 or 16 elements that host anions of various nature and complexity. Surveyed will be assemblies containing unusual Ag44+ and Hg23+ clusters, remarkable linkers, such as P88– with phosphorus atoms in three formal oxidation states and long-known but very rare “ufosane” As113–, and various other MIF’s with peculiar topology and architecture. We will also consider host-guest interactions in MIF’s, in particular, strengthening of the assemblies by weak but numerous host-guest interactions as well as host-guest mismatch and mutual adjustment.