Giant crystal lattice is mesoporous but not a MOF

An image showing a unit cell

Source: © Takumi Konno/Osaka University

Non-covalent network has the largest unit cell among non-MOFs

Scientists in Japan have made a mesoporous ionic solid from a single complex cation. The solid has a pore structure larger than topologically-related metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and, at more than 2 million Å3, it has the largest cell volume among non-MOFs.