Confinement of unprecedented tetrahedral water tetramers inside 1D hydrophobic channels of metal–organic framework hostsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Ligand synthesis, selected bonds, PXRD pattern and TGA. CCDC reference numbers 801396and 809257. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c1ce05606a

Two NbO frameworks are constructed by the reaction of Co(OAc)2·4(H2O)/Zn(OAc)2·2(H2O) with 1-(4-(1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)phenyl)butane-1,3-dione in the ratio of 1 : 2, in which they are isostructural and the NbO net exhibits a two-fold interpenetration featuring hexameric 1D channels. Theses channels are occupied by unprecedented tetrahedral tetramer water clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]