A semi-rigid organic linker, namely, 3,3',5,5'-tetrakis(4-(α-carboxy)methoxyphenyl)-2,2',6,6'-tetramethoxy-1,1'-biphenyl (H4L), was designed and synthesized to access metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). While the ortho-methoxy substituents in the biphenyl core of H4L were surmised to twist the aromatic planes and impart porosity to the resultant MOFs, the (α-carboxy)methoxyphenyl moieties at the periphery were envisaged to enable requisite flexibility for metal-ligand coordination polymerization. The reactions of H4L with Cd, Mn, and Zn salts indeed yielded MOFs, i.e., Cd-L, Mn-L, Zn-Lsqc, and Zn-Ldia, with interesting structural features and unusual inorganic SBUs. In particular, the reaction of H4L with ZnI2 in DMF at 90 °C over 2 days led to concomitant formation of a pair of compositionally distinct Zn-MOFs, i.e., Zn-Ldia and Zn-Lsqc, each of which could be accessed exclusively by controlling the reaction conditions. The diversity observed in the structures of MOFs formed with the linker H4L with a limited number of metal ions sufficiently emphasizes the importance of the attributes of the linker in the formation of 3D MOFs; the latter are desirable from the stability and exfoliation points of view when the MOFs are explored for applications such as gas storage, catalysis, etc. In corroboration of our previous results, it emerges that the flexibility that is built into the structure of the organic linker, both at the central core and at the periphery, leads to concomitant formation of compositionally distinct MOFs in addition to diverse SBUs and disparate framework topologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]