Spontaneous resolution upon crystallization of chiral La(iii) and Gd(iii) MOFs from achiral dihydroxymalonate

The achiral chelating and bridging dihydroxymalonato (mesoxalato) ligand is a new enantiopurity enforcer in extended structures by yielding the Λ/Δ-metal configured homochiral MOFs 2D-[Ln2(μ-mesoxalato)3(H2O)6] (Ln = La(III), Gd(III)) through self-resolution during crystal growth.