A series of “light metal” metal–organic frameworks containing secondary building units (SBUs) based on Li+ and Na+ cations have been prepared using the silicon-centered linkers MexSi(p-C6H4CO2H)4-x (x = 2, 1, 0). The unipositive charge, small size, and oxophilic nature of the metal cations give rise to some unusual and unique SBUs, including a three-dimensional nodal structure built from sodium and oxygen ions when using the triacid linker (x = 1). The same linker with Li+ cations generated a chiral, helical SBU, formed from achiral starting materials. One-dimensional rod SBUs are observed for the diacid (x = 2) and tetra-acid (x = 0) linkers with both Li+ and Na+ cations, where the larger size of Na+ compared to Li+ leads to subtle differences in the constitution of the metal nodes.