To aid the synthesis of PDI containing MOFs, a ligand functionalised with bulky isopropyl groups to disrupt PDI-stacking which typically reduces solubility, was identified as a suitable scaffold for the design of the PDI based ligand. Thus, L 1 was prepared by the reaction of 2,6-diisopropyl-4- (pyridin-4-yl)aniline with 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride in imidazole under an inert N2 atmosphere at 180 o C. The synthesis of the aniline was performed following two literature protocols. The first step of the synthesis involves iodination 25 of commercially available 2,6-diisopropylaniline to give 4-iodo-2,6-diisopropyl aniline. This is followed by Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction 26 with pyridine-4-boronic acid pinacol ester to yield 2,6-diisopropyl-4-(pyridine-4-yl)aniline. Crystals of L 1 suitable for single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) studies were obtained by slow evaporation of solutions of the compounds in CH2Cl2. Analysis of the single crystal data reveals L 1 crystallising in the monoclinic space group P21/c (Fig. ) and reveals that the molecule sits on an inversion centre such that the two halves of the molecule are equivalent.