Conceptually, it is not difficult to imagine reaching into a solid structure and carving out
just that portion of the framework we desire. Solid-state reactions incorporating an ionic
component into a covalent structure have long been recognized as experimental means for
accomplishing just such feats. However, the method does not always succeed, and so, in an
effort to extend its use in more logical approaches to solid synthesis, we herein provide an
assessment of the scope and limitations of the reaction type. Dimensional reduction is set
forth as a general formalism describing how the metal−anion (M−X) framework of a parent
compound, MX
x
, is dismantled upon reaction with an ionic reagent A
a
X to form a child
compound A
na
MX
x
+
n
. The added anions serve to terminate M−X−M bridges, yielding a less
tightly connected framework that retains the metal coordination geometry and polyhedron
connectivity mode of the original parent structure. In most instances, the connectedness of
the ensuing framework can also be predicted, facilitating enumeration of likely structures.
A database containing more than 3000 relevant crystal structures has been compiled
(available at ) and is employed in evaluating the
applicability of dimensional reduction to various systems. Examples are provided and results
are tabulated for the deconstruction of parent solids featuring octahedral, tetrahedral, square
planar, and linear metal coordination polyhedra linked through corner-, edge-, and face-sharing interactions. The success of dimensional reduction is observed to depend significantly
on the choice of the countercation A (with smaller cations typically giving more reliable
results), suggesting that this should be considered a variable parameter when targeting a
specific child framework. The utility of the method in dismantling cluster-containing
frameworks is also discussed.