A Noninterpenetrated Metal–Organic Framework Built from an Enlarged Tetracarboxylic Acid for Small Hydrocarbon Separation

A novel noninterpenetrated metal–organic
framework [Cu2L­(H2O)2]­f·​(DMA)18·​(H2O)19 (ZJU-31,
ZJU = ZheJiang University; H4L = 5′,5⁗-(2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-phenylene)­bis­[1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl]-4,4″-dicarboxylic
acid; DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide)
has been synthesized and structurally characterized from an expanded
organic linker. Interestingly, although the new linker is larger than the developed
one for the construction of ZJU-30 with a doubly interpenetrated
structure, the incorporation of a 1,4-dimethoxyphenyl group into the
new linker enforces the formation of noninterpenetrated ZJU-31. Accordingly, the activated ZJU-31a shows a much higher
porosity with a BET surface area of 1115 m2/g than ZJU-30a of 228 m2/g. ZJU-31a exhibits
highly selective separation of C2 hydrocarbons over C1 methane at room temperature.