Tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) chloride, [Co III (en) 3 ]Cl 3 (en = ethylenediamine), is one of the most fundamental compounds of coordination chemistry. Although the wellknown ethylenediamine complexes may be regarded as well studied, research that considers their gas-adsorbent ability has not been reported. The racemic hydrated crystal of (AE )-[Co(en) 3 ]Cl 3 (1) includes H 2 O molecules within the onedimensional channels (see Figure 1).[1] Although the "zeolitic" behavior of 1 as a hydrate and dehydrate was reported in
1959,[2] the gas-adsorption ability of dried crystals of 1 was recently euphemistically indicated in 2002 and 2003 by a solidstate NMR spectroscopic study of n-alkanes under saturated vapor as well as of loaded Xe gas at high pressure.[3] Currently, porous materials based on metal complexes are very attractive research targets owing to their designable structure, unusual flexibilities, and projected tunable functions. [4] Dynamic porosity has been given much attention for the function of dynamic guest inclusion, [4][5][6] which can control guest reactivity and stability. [7] In the context of host dimensionality and binding forces for the component skeletons, currently the most actively investigated materials generally consist of polymeric skeletons with the assistance of van der Waals interpolymer interactions. Such structures should be well restricted in their transformability regarding the direction and range of motion by how the 3D architecture is constructed. Thus, an ionic crystal consisting of charged spherical components can be considered to possess extremely unrestricted transformability, which is regulated mostly by the minimization of the ionic-crystal energy under the various gas-adsorbing states. In this case, the Coulombic potential is rather "loose" in terms of binding interaction, which is generated in isotropic radial directions over a long distance proportional to r À1 (r = intermolecular distance), whereas that of van der Waals interactions is proportional to r À6 . Thus, there is a possibility that the ionic crystal can transform its crystal structure to sensitively adapt to the various adsorbedguest properties even by weak physisorption. Because crystal 1 seems to satisfy these requirements for the target-flexible ionic porosity, we focus on the gas adsorbency of ionic crystal 1. The purely van der Waals molecular crystal host is known for the cyclotriphosphazene inclusion compound. [8] Well-formed hydrated single crystals of 1 ([Co III (en) 3 ]Cl 3 ·4 H 2 O) were obtained as hexagonal rods by recrystallization from water. The structure has 1D channels running along the rod axis perpendicular to the hexagonal (001) plane, forming a channel crystal with 1D penetration pores (Figure 2). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated the 1D channel structure of 1 including a 1D water chain with the infinite connectivity of a trigonalbipyramidal periodic unit (Figure 3 a). After vacuum drying at 60 8C, single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis can be perform...