Atoms and the void: modular construction of ordered porous solids

For millennia, humans have exploited the special properties of porous materials. Advances in recent years have yielded a new generation of finely structured porous materials that allow processes to be controlled at the molecular level. These materials are built by a strategy of modular construction, using molecular components designed to position their neighbors in ways that create predictable voids. The strategy of modular construction makes it possible to create ordered materials with structures that are controlled at the molecular level. In this perspective article, the author shows how the approach has yielded a new generation of materials with extraordinary properties of porosity.