Crystal engineering in two dimensions: Surface attraction

A new route to layer-by-layer assembly of metal-organic framework thin films affords highly ordered and controllable surfaces with potential in chemical sensing and catalyst applications. The fabrication of nanoscale MOF films is a particularly valuable objective towards their commercial utilization. The Langmuir-Blodgett method of producing homogeneous layers is an ingenious extension of this experiment, whereby, after a compacting process, the monolayers on the surface of a liquid are swept onto a substrate by a simple immersion procedure. (Metallo)porphyrins have been shown to constitute a versatile pallet for chemists to explore new structures and bonding. The fundamental importance of the work, on the other hand, is arguably a combination of the facile synthesis and the simply staggering possibilities available in the future in adapting the combination of metals and ligands to produce distinct multiply stacked nanofilms.