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The primary goal of this research concerns the synthesis of organic ligands in an effort \nto create metal-organic porous materials for the storage of gas molecules for alternative \nenergy applications as well as other applications such as catalysis, molecular sensing, \nselective gas adsorption and separation. Initially, the focus of this work was on the \nsynthesis of metal-organic polyhedra, yet the research has to date not progressed past the \nsynthesis of ligands and the theoretical polyhedron that may form. Further efforts to \nobtain polyhedra from these ligands need to be explored. \nConcurrently, the search for a metal-organic framework that hopefully breaks the \nrecord for methane adsorption at low pressure and standard temperature was undertaken. \nA framework, PCN-80, was synthesized based off a newly synthesized extended \nbianthracene derivative, yet was unstable to the atmosphere. Hydrogen and methane \nadsorption capacities have been evaluated by molecular simulations; these adsorption \nisotherms indicated a gravimetric hydrogen uptake of 9.59 weight percent and a \nvolumetric uptake of methane of 78.47 g/L. \nFollowing the synthesis of PCN-80, a comparison study involving the effect of the \nstepwise growth of the number of aromatic rings in the ligand of a MOF was pursued; \nthe number of aromatic rings in the ligand was varied from one to eight while still \nmaintaining a linear, ditopic moiety. The synthesis of another bianthracene-based ligand \nwas used to complete the series of ligands and PCN-81, a two-dimensional framework \nwith no noticeable porosity as evident by the simulated hydrogen uptake of 0.68 weight \npercent, was synthesized. All of these MOFs were synthesized from zinc salts to reduce \nthe number of variables. No clear relationship was established in terms of the number of \naromatic rings present in the ligand and the hydrogen adsorption capacity. However, it \nwas confirmed that the density and hydrogen uptake in weight percent are inversely \nproportional. Further work needs to be done to determine what advantages are offered by \nthese novel frameworks containing extended bianthracene derivatives. For example, with \nthe highly fluorescent nature of the ligands from which they are composed, both PCN-80 \nand PCN-81 should be studied for the potential use in the application of fluorescent \nmaterials.