Digital Reticular Chemistry

Summary

Reticular chemistry operates in an infinite space of compositions, structures, properties, and applications. Although great progress has been made in exploring this space through the development of metal-organic frameworks and covalent organic frameworks, there remains a gap between what we foresee as being possible and what can actually be accomplished with the current tools and methods. The establishment of digital reticular chemistry, where digital tools are deployed, in particular laboratory robotics and artificial intelligence, will fundamentally change the current workflow to enable discovery of this untapped chemical space and to go beyond the limits of human capacity. In so doing, long-standing challenges in reticular chemistry can finally be addressed faster and better, and more significantly, new questions, unimagined before digitization, can be articulated. The interface between human and “machine” is an integral part of this endeavor and one whose quality is critical to uncovering science transcending intellectual and physical borders.