Highly Efficient Separation of a Solid Mixture of Naphthalene and Anthracene by a Reusable Porous Metal–Organic Framework through a Single-Crystal-to-Single-Crystal Transformation

The three-dimensional crystalline porous metal–organic framework [Ni2(μ2-OH2)(1,3-BDC)2(tpcb)]n (1) [1,3-H2BDC = 1,3-benzenedicarboxylic acid; tpcb = tetrakis(4-pyridyl)cyclobutane] was used to separate a solid mixture of naphthalene and anthracene at room temperature via selective adsorption of naphthalene. The process involved a single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation. The guest naphthalene molecules could be exchanged with ethanol, and the host, 1, could be regenerated by removal of the guest ethanol molecules.