Controlling guest conformation for efficient purification of butadiene

Trapping [PMo12O40]3- clusters into pre-synthesized ZIF-67 toward Mo x Co x C particles confined in uniform carbon polyhedrons for efficient overall water splitting

Bi-transition metal carbides (BTMCs) are promising in catalytic fields, but the synthesis of small-sized BTMCs remains a challenge. Here, Mo x Co x C (mainly below 20 nm in size) confined in uniform carbon polyhedrons (Mo x Co x C@C) was synthesized based on trapping [PMo12O40]3- (PMo12) clusters into pre-synthesized, uniform ZIF-67 (PMo/ZIF-67). The opening of the windows (0.34 nm) of ZIF-67 cages through heating is essential to allow the trapping of PMo12 into the cages. This trapping route provides a new method to successfully combine POMs and MOFs that can not be effectively combined via traditional POMOF-based (simultaneous assembly) routes. It also has advantages in controlling the uniformity and components of the materials. The size matching of PMo12 (1 nm) and the cages (1.16 nm) of ZIF-67 enables effective contact of the Co and Mo sources, thus giving small-sized Mo x Co x C protected by carbon via calcination. The optimized catalysts showed good performance for water splitting with a low η10 of 83 mV (295 mV) for the hydrogen (oxygen) evolution reaction, which is superior to those derived from ZIF-67 and precursors from POMOF-based routes. Our results also indicated that the HER activity is determined by the kind of BTMC, and the activity for the OER is relative to the oxygen-containing species formed during the initial OER test.

Site-Selective Catalysis of a Multifunctional Linear Molecule: The Steric Hindrance of Metal-Organic Framework Channels

The site-selective reaction of a multifunctional linear molecule requires a suitable catalyst possessing both uniform narrow channel to limit the molecule rotation and a designed active site in the channel. Recently, nanoparticles (NPs) were incorporated in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the tailorable porosity and ordered nanochannel, which makes these materials (NPs/MOFs) highly promising candidates as catalytic nanoreactors in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Inspired by a "Gondola" sailing in narrow "Venetian Canal" without sufficient space for a U-turn, a simple heterogeneous catalyst based on NPs/MOFs is developed that exhibits site-selectivity for the oxidation of diols by restricting the random rotation of the molecule (the "Gondola") in the limited space of the MOF channel (the narrow "Venetian Canal"), thereby protecting the middle functional group via steric hindrance. This strategy is not limited to the oxidation of diols, but can be extended to the site-selective reaction of many similar multifunctional linear molecules, such as the reduction of alkadienes.

A metal-organic framework based on a custom-designed diisophthalate ligand exhibiting excellent hydrostability and highly selective adsorption of C2H2 and CO2 over CH4

The ligand truncation strategy provides facile access to a wide variety of linkers for the construction of MOFs bearing diverse structures and intriguing properties. In this work, we employed this strategy to design and prepare a novel bent diisophthalate ligand, and used it to successfully construct a copper-based MOF ZJNU-51 with the formula of [Cu2L(H2O)2]·5DMF (H4L = 5,5'-(triphenylamine-4,4'-diyl) diisophthalic acid), which was thoroughly characterized by various techniques including FTIR, TGA, PXRD and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. ZJNU-51 is a two-fold interpenetrated network in which the single network consists of dicopper paddlewheel units connected by the organic ligands and contains open channels as well as six distinct types of metal-organic cages. Furthermore, gas adsorption properties with respect to C2H2, CO2, and CH4 were systematically investigated, demonstrating that ZJNU-51 is a highly promising material for C2H2/CH4 and CO2/CH4 separations. Specifically, the IAST adsorption selectivity at 298 K and 1 atm reaches 35.6 and 5.4 for the equimolar C2H2/CH4 and CO2/CH4 gas mixtures, respectively. More significantly, as revealed by PXRD and N2 adsorption measurements, ZJNU-51 exhibits excellent chemical stability, which lays a good foundation for its practical application.

Nanospace within metal-organic frameworks for gas storage and separation

Porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), also known as porous coordination polymers, represent a new class of porous materials, and one of their striking features lies in their tunable, designable, and functionalizable nanospace. This nanospace within MOFs provides virtually plenty of room for imagination, allowing designed incorporation of different size, shape, and functionalities for targeted gas storage and separation applications. Furthermore, the features of high porosities, tunable framework structures and pore sizes, and immobilized functional sites enable MOF materials to fully make use of their nanopore space for gas storage, to optimize their sieving effects, and to differentiate their interactions with gas molecules for gas separation. In this review article, we highlight some recent significant advances in developing microporous MOFs for some of the most important gas storage and separation applications.

Improving Olefin Purification Using Metal Organic Frameworks with Open Metal Sites

The separation and purification of light hydrocarbons is challenging in the industry. Recently, a ZJNU-30 metal-organic framework (MOF) has been found to have the potential for adsorption-based separation of olefins and diolefins with four carbon atoms [H. M. Liu et al. Chem.-Eur. J. 2016, 22, 14988-14997]. Our study corroborates this finding but reveals Fe-MOF-74 as a more efficient candidate for the separation because of the open metal sites. We performed adsorption-based separation, transient breakthrough curves, and density functional theory calculations. This combination of techniques provides an extensive understanding of the studied system. Using this MOF, we propose a separation scheme to obtain a high-purity product.

Topologically guided tuning of Zr-MOF pore structures for highly selective separation of C6 alkane isomers

As an alternative technology to energy intensive distillations, adsorptive separation by porous solids offers lower energy cost and higher efficiency. Herein we report a topology-directed design and synthesis of a series of Zr-based metal-organic frameworks with optimized pore structure for efficient separation of C6 alkane isomers, a critical step in the petroleum refining process to produce gasoline with high octane rating. Zr₆O₄(OH)₄(bptc)₃ adsorbs a large amount of n-hexane but excluding branched isomers. The n-hexane uptake is ~70% higher than that of a benchmark adsorbent, zeolite-5A. A derivative structure, Zr₆O₄(OH)₈(H₂O)₄(abtc)₂, is capable of discriminating all three C6 isomers and yielding a high separation factor for 3-methylpentane over 2,3-dimethylbutane. This property is critical for producing gasoline with further improved quality. Multicomponent breakthrough experiments provide a quantitative measure of the capability of these materials for separation of C6 alkane isomers. A detailed structural analysis reveals the unique topology, connectivity and relationship of these compounds.

The separation of C6 alkane isomers is crucial to the petroleum refining industry, but the distillation methods in place are energy intensive. Here, the authors design a series of topologically-guided zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks with optimized pore structures for efficient C6 alkane isomer separations.

Unified meso-pores and dense Cu2+ sites in porous coordination polymers for highly efficient gas storage and separation

Unified meso-pores and dense open metal sites (OMS) in porous coordination polymers (PCPs) allow highly promising H2 and C2-hydrocarbon storage, as well as rapid and efficient C2H2/4 enrichment from CO2 mixtures. The positive function of the OMS, associated with guest thermodynamics, was well revealed by in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy study.

Beyond Crystal Engineering: Significant Enhancement of C2H2/CO2 Separation by Constructing Composite Material

Different from the established crystal engineering method for enhancing gas-separation performance, we demonstrate herein a distinct approach. In contrast to the pristine MOF (metal-organic framework) material, the C₂H₂/CO₂ separation ability for the resultant Ag NPs (nanoparticle)@Fe₂O₃@MOF composite material, estimated from breakthrough calculations, is greatly enhanced by 2 times, and further magnified up to 3 times under visible light irradiation.

Confinement of polysulfides within bi-functional metal-organic frameworks for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries

A lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is regarded as the most promising candidate for next generation energy storage systems, because of its high theoretical specific capacity (1675 mA h g^-1) and specific energy (2500 W h kg^-1), as well as the abundance, low cost and environmental benignity of sulfur. However, the soluble polysulfides Li₂S_x (4 ≤ x ≤ 8) produced during the discharge process can cause the so-called "shuttle effect" and lead to low coulombic efficiency and rapid capacity fading of the batteries, which seriously restrict their practical application. Using porous materials as hosts to immobilize the polysulfides is proved to be an effective strategy. In this article, a dual functional cage-like metal-organic framework (Cu-MOF), Cu-TDPAT, combining the Lewis basic sites from the nitrogen atoms of the ligand H₆TDPAT with the Lewis acidic sites from Cu(ii) open metal sites (OMSs), was employed as the sulfur host in a Li-S battery for lithium ions and polysulfide anions (S_x^2-). In addition, the size of nano-Cu-TDPAT was also optimized by microwave synthesis to reduce the internal resistance of the batteries. The electrochemical test results showed that the optimized Cu-TDPAT material can efficiently confine the polysulfides within the MOF, and the resultant porous S@Cu-TDPAT composite cathode material with the size of 100 nm shows good cycling performance with a reversible capacity of about 745 mA h g^-1 at 1C (1C = 1675 mA g^-1) after 500 cycles, to the best of our knowledge, which is higher than those of all reported S@MOF cathode materials. The DFT calculation and XPS data indicate that the good cycling performance mainly results from the dual functional binding sites (that is, Lewis acid and base sites) in nanoporous Cu-TDPAT, providing the comprehensive and robust interaction with the polysulfides to overcome their dissolution and diffusion into the electrolyte. Clearly, our work provides a good example of designing MOFs with suitable interaction sites for the polysulfides to achieve S@MOF cathode materials with excellent cycling performance by multiple synergistic effects between nanoporous host MOFs and the polysulfides.

Diverse cobalt(ii) coordination polymers for water/ethanol separation and luminescence for water sensing applications

N,N′-Bis(3-pyridylmethyl)pyromellitic diimide has four conformations, which lead to four types of cobalt(ii) coordination polymers. Such coordination networks can be used for luminescent water sensing and water/ethanol separation.

Three isoreticular ssa-type MOFs derived from bent diisophthalate ligands: exploring the substituent effect on structural stabilities and selective C2H2/CH4 and CO2/CH4 adsorption properties

Three isoreticular ssa-type MOFs exhibit substituent-dependent framework stabilities against desolvation and gas adsorption properties.

A highly porous acylamide decorated MOF-505 analogue exhibiting high and selective CO2 gas uptake capability

A highly porous acylamide decorated MOF-505 analogue with optimized pores, open copper sites and acylamide groups exhibits large and selective CO₂ adsorption over CH₄ and N₂ under ambient conditions.

Controlled flexibility of porous coordination polymers by shifting the position of the –CH3 group around coordination sites and their highly efficient gas separation

By adjusting the position of the methyl group, we found significant changes in the structural flexibility of the obtained PCPs, which also showed good gas separation ability.

Rational construction of an ssa-type of MOF through pre-organizing the ligand's conformation and its exceptional gas adsorption properties

A ligand conformation-controlled assembly strategy has been successfully employed to construct a copper-based MOF with the desired ssa-type topology, which exhibits exceptional C₂H₂ and CO₂ adsorption properties.

An unprecedented water stable acylamide-functionalized metal–organic framework for highly efficient CH4/CO2 gas storage/separation and acid–base cooperative catalytic activity

HNUST-8 exhibits water stable, efficient CH₄/CO₂ storage and separation, acid–base cooperative catalytic activity in a tandem deacetalization Knoevenagel densation.

2D and 3D lanthanide metal–organic frameworks constructed from three benzenedicarboxylate ligands: synthesis, structure and luminescent properties

Nineteen Ln-MOFs with four different crystal structures were prepared and the luminescence was studied.

Efficient separation of C2H2from C2H2/CO2mixtures in an acid–base resistant metal–organic framework

An acid–base resistant metal–organic framework,ZJU-196, for excellent C₂H₂/CO₂separation has been successfully synthesised.

Structural diversities and gas adsorption properties of a family of rod-packing lanthanide–organic frameworks based on cyclotriphosphazene-functionalized hexacarboxylate derivatives

A family of Ln-MOFs constructed from flexible hexacarboxylate derivatives exhibit substituent-driven structural diversity, and the methoxy-modified one displays the potential for natural gas purification.

A pair of polymorphous metal–organic frameworks based on an angular diisophthalate linker: synthesis, characterization and gas adsorption properties

A pair of polymorphous MOFs derived from a bent diisophthalate ligand were synthesized by modulating solvothermal conditions, exhibiting comparable gas adsorption properties with respect to C₂H₂, CO₂ and CH₄.

Two-dimensional metal–organic framework nanosheets: synthesis and applications

Synthesis and applications of two-dimensional metal–organic framework nanosheets and their composites are summarized.

A flexible metal–organic framework with adaptive pores for high column-capacity gas chromatographic separation

A new zinc pyrazolyl-carboxylate framework with multi-mode and adaptive flexibility has been synthesized for efficient gas chromatographic separations.

Two MOFs as dual-responsive photoluminescence sensors for metal and inorganic ion detection

Two MOFs were synthesized and explored as dual-responsive photoluminescent sensors: 1 for Fe³⁺ and Cr₂O₇²⁻ ions, and 2 for Hg²⁺ and Cr₂O₇²⁻ ions.

Applying MOF+ technique for in situ preparation of a hybrid material for hydrogenation reaction

We demonstrate herein the preparation of a hybrid material for catalytic purpose by our recently developed MOF⁺ method. Impressively, the results show that the resultant catalyst displays superior catalytic performances for hydrogenation on olefin and selective semihydrogenation on phenylacetylene.

Fast and scalable synthesis of uniform zirconium-, hafnium-based metal-organic framework nanocrystals

Metal-organic frameworks based on zirconium or hafnium possess tantalizing commercial prospects due to their high stability but require a long reaction time to form crystals. The fast synthesis of uniform Zr-, Hf-MOF nanocrystals at scale is of key importance in the potential commercial application of MOFs. In this work, we have developed a versatile strategy through controlling the hydrolysis and nucleation of metal salts in the presence of acetic acid and water; up to 24 grams of UiO-66-NH₂ nanocrystals with a uniform octahedron could be synthesized within 15 minutes using a one step method. The current synthetic strategy could be extended to other Zr-, Hf-MOF nanocrystals [UiO-66-Fast, UiO-66-(OH)₂-Fast, UiO-66-2,6-NDC-Fast, UiO-67-Fast, BUT-12-Fast, PCN-222-Ni-Fast, PCN-222-Co-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-NH₂-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-(OH)₂-Fast, Hf-UiO-66-2,6-NDC-Fast and Hf-BUT-12-Fast]. Significantly, when noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) are introduced into MOF precursors, NPs encapsulated in MOFs with excellent dispersion have also been obtained and show outstanding performance in catalysis. This facile procedure is expected to pave the way to expand the commercial applications of MOFs.

Multiple Efficient Fluorescence Emission from Cucurbit[10]uril-[Cd4Cl16]8--Based Pillared Diamond Porous Supramolecular Frameworks

Cucurbit[10]uril (Q[10] or CB[10]), with the largest rigid cavity (ca. 1.0 nm) yet characterized in the cucurbiturils family, and indeed among all artificial macrocyclic receptors to date, has been successfully exploited to construct a novel Q[10]-[Cd₄Cl₁₆]^8--based pillared diamond porous supramolecular framework. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the three-dimensional open-nanotube-type porous framework is constructed from free Q[10] molecules and [Cd₄Cl₁₆]^8- cluster anions through the outer surface interactions of Q[10]. Notably, the Q[10]-based porous framework host can accommodate guest dyes, such as rhodamine B (G1), pyrenemethanamine hydrochloride (G2), and bathocuproine hydrochloride (G3), to form solid materials with efficient red-green-blue (RGB) fluorescence. This work not only exemplifies a facile approach for the construction of macrocycle-based porous frameworks but also offers a simple, lower cost, yet still highly efficient means of preparing multi-emitting, including white-light-emitting, solid luminescent materials.