Phosphonic acids are increasingly being used for controlling surface and interface properties in hybrid or composite materials, (opto)electronic devices and in the synthesis of nanomaterials. In this perspective article, a concise survey of phosphonate coupling molecules is first presented, including details on their coordination chemistry, their use in the surface modification of inorganic substrates with self-assembled monolayers, and the analytical techniques available to characterize their environment in nanomaterials. Then, some of their recent applications in the development of organic electronic devices, photovoltaic cells, biomaterials, biosensors, supported catalysts and sorbents, corrosion inhibitors, and nanostructured composite materials, are presented. In the last part of the article, a brief overview of recent progress in the use of phosphonate ligands for the preparation of molecular nanomaterials like metal organic frameworks and functionalized polyoxometalates is given.

A 1D-microporous 3D calcium tetracarboxylate MOF has been solvothermally prepared and its structure solved from single crystal data. It exhibits coordinatively unsaturated Ca²⁺ Lewis acid sites able to trap and deliver nitric oxide at a biological level.

The reaction of gold nanoparticles with benzimididazol-2-ylidene ligands leads to the formation of well-defined bis-carbene gold(I) complexes, as shown by characterization techniques such as powder XRD and solid state NMR.