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.