RESEARCH ARTICLE
Theoretical study on adsorption properties of methyl
methacrylate and its molecular chain within metal‐organic
frameworks
Feihong Ye
1
| Biao Xu
1
| Tao Lu
1
| Xinhui Zhou
2
| Yunqing Lu
1
| Jin Wang
1,3
1
School of Opto‐Electronic Engineering,
Nanjing University of Posts and
Telecommunications, Nanjing, China
2
Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics
and Information Displays, Institute of
Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of
Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing,
China
3
School of Telecommunication and
Information Engineering, Nanjing
University of Posts and
Telecommunications, Nanjing, China
Correspondence
Jin Wang, School of Telecommunication
and Information Engineering, Nanjing
University of Posts and
Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023,
China.
Email: jinwang@njupt.edu.cn;
luyq@njupt.edu.cn
Funding information
Scientific Research Foundation for the
Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars,
Grant/Award Number: 105757; National
Natural Science Foundation of China,
Grant/Award Number: 61575096
Abstract
Utilizing metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) as a “polymerization container”
is a very effective method to prepare oriented and therefore birefringent
polymer materials. In particular, the adsorption of polymer monomers and
molecular chains within MOFs has a profound impact on the orientation
of polymer chains. In this work, a theoretical study on the adsorption
properties of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and its molecular chain within
MOFs has been conducted by employing a combination of molecular
dynamics, density functional theory, and Monte Carlo method, where 2
MOFs, [Zn
2
(1,4‐benzenedicarboxylate)
2
triethylenediamine]
n
and [Zn
2
(4,4′‐
biphenyldicarboxylate)
2
triethylenediamine]
n
, were chosen. The corresponding
number and degree of orientation of adsorbed molecules in these 2 MOFs were
obtained from the simulations. The calculation results revealed 3 factors that
affect the adsorption and orientation of MMA monomers in MOF pore channels.
First, as the walls of the MOF pores are polar surfaces and consist of metal ions
and organic ligands, the electrostatic interaction between the MOF channels
and polar MMA molecules promotes the adsorption and orientation of the
MMA monomers within the pore channel. Second, the electrostatic interactions
between monomers can reduce the intermolecular gaps, which similarly assist in
their orientation. Last, the relative sizes of the MOF pores and the monomers are
also relevant. When the sizes of the MOF channels and monomers are similar,
the molecular chains show a higher degree of orientation. The results and the
findings of this work could provide predictive methods for selecting polymeric
monomers or MOFs that may be ideal for the control of polymer chain
orientation.
KEYWORDS
adsorption, birefringence, metal‐organic frameworks, orientation, polymer
1 | INTRODUCTION
Birefringent materials have become a focal research point,
as optical waveguides with unique functions and
properties can be prepared by using such materials.
[1–5]
Polymer optical materials have a wide range of applica-
tions as they possess excellent performance and tunable
refractive indices, while being cheap and easy to process.
Received: 17 August 2017 Revised: 5 October 2017 Accepted: 8 October 2017
DOI: 10.1002/poc.3786
J Phys Org Chem. 2017;e3786.
https://doi.org/10.1002/poc.3786
Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/poc 1of9