Highly Enhanced Gas Uptake and Selectivity via Incorporating Methoxy Groups into a Microporous Metal–Organic Framework

Published

April 2, 2017

Author(s)

Hui-Min Wen, Ganggang Chang, Bin Li, Rui-Biao Lin, Tong-Liang Hu, Wei Zhou, Banglin Chen

Abstract

A porous metal-organic framework [Cu₂L(H₂O)₂]&#82267DMF&#82264H₂o (UTSA-90, H₄L = 2',5'-dimethoxy-[1,1':4',1"-Terphenyl]-3,3",5,5"-tetracarboxylic acid) functionalized with methoxy groups has been successfully constructed and structurally characterized, which is isoreticular to NOTT-101. A single crystal structure determination reveals that the incorporation of bulky methoxy groups can efficiently split the large pores and channels of NOTT-101a into smaller ones with UTSA-90. Compared with NOTT-101a, the activated UTSA-90a exhibits the significantly enhance C₂H₂ (214 vs 184 cm³ g^-1^) and CO₂ (125 vs 83 cm³ g^u-1) adsorption capacities at 295 K and 1 bar. It is worth noting that the CO₂ uptake of UTSA-90a represents the highest reported for all the NbO-type MOFs. In addition, UTSA-90a also shows a significant enhancement in adsorptive selectivities for the separation of C₂H₂/CH₄, CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ mixtures at ambient conditions. This work indicates that introducing bulky functional groups on the linker might be a promising approach to tune pore sizes and environments in MOFs for enhancing their gas adsorption and separation properties.

Citation

Crystal Growth & Design

Volume

17

Issue

4

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Gas Selectivity, Metal–Organic Framework

Citation

Wen, H. , Chang, G. , Li, B. , Lin, R. , Hu, T. , Zhou, W. and Chen, B. (2017), Highly Enhanced Gas Uptake and Selectivity via Incorporating Methoxy Groups into a Microporous Metal–Organic Framework, Crystal Growth & Design, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=922836 (Accessed October 17, 2025)