A Doubly Interpenetrated Metal–Organic Framework with Open Metal Sites and Suitable Pore Sizes for Highly Selective Separation of Small Hydrocarbons at Room Temperature

To immobilize open Cu2+ sites and tune suitable pore spaces, we have realized a doubly interpenetrated metal–organic framework (MOF) [Cu2L­(H2O)2]·(DMF)6·H2O (ZJU-30, ZJU = Zhejiang University; H4L = biphenyl-3,3′,5,5′-tetra-(phenyl-4-carboxylic) acid; DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) for the highly selective separation of C2 hydrocarbons over C1 methane with the Henry law’s selectivities from 9.58 to 29.8 in the temperature range from 273 to 298 K.