Multigas adsorption with single-site cooperativity in a metal–organic framework

Published

November 20, 2025

Author(s)

Kurtis M. Carsch, Henry Z. Jiang, Ryan Klein, Andrew S. Rosen, Peyton Summerhill, Jesse L. Peltier, Adrian J. Huang, Ryan A. Murphy, Matthew N. Dods, Hope A. Silva, Zikri Hasanbasri, Hyunchul Kwon, Sarah H. Karstens, Yuto Yabuuchi, Jonas Boergel, Jordan W. Taylor, Katie R. Meihaus, Karen C. Bustillo, Andrew M. Minor, Kristen A. Persson, Craig Brown, R. D. Britt, Nicholas P. Stadie, Jeffrey Long

Abstract

Cooperative gas adsorption in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is a rare phenomenon that generally involves long-range communication between multiple binding sites. We demonstrate a MOF containing cobalt(II)–methyl sites that selectively and reversibly capture two carbon monoxide (CO) molecules per site, leading to record-high adsorption capacities at ambient temperatures and pressures. Gas adsorption and structural, spectroscopic, and computational analyses support a mechanism in which binding of one CO molecule triggers a spin transition, followed by binding of a second CO molecule and migratory insertion of the first CO molecule into the cobalt–methyl bond to form an acetyl. The greater binding affinity associated with the second CO results in sigmoidal adsorption isotherms, a hallmark of cooperativity and phase-change materials, despite the absence of long-range interactions within the framework.

Citation

Science

Volume

390

Issue

6775

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady2607

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Keywords

industrial separations, MOFs, powder diffraction, carbon monoxide, coordination chemistry

Citation

Carsch, K. , Jiang, H. , Klein, R. , Rosen, A. , Summerhill, P. , Peltier, J. , Huang, A. , Murphy, R. , Dods, M. , Silva, H. , Hasanbasri, Z. , Kwon, H. , Karstens, S. , Yabuuchi, Y. , Boergel, J. , Taylor, J. , Meihaus, K. , Bustillo, K. , Minor, A. , Persson, K. , Brown, C. , Britt, R. , Stadie, N. and Long, J. (2025), Multigas adsorption with single-site cooperativity in a metal–organic framework, Science, [online], https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ady2607, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=959911 (Accessed February 25, 2026)