The realization of porous materials for highly selective separation of acetylene (C2H2) from various other gases (e.g., carbon dioxide and ethylene) by adsorption is of prime importance but challenging in the petrochemical industry. Herein, a chemically stable Hofmann‐type metal−organic framework (MOF), Co(pyz)[Ni(CN)4] (termed as ZJU‐74a), that features sandwich‐like binding sites for benchmark C2H2 capture and separation is reported. Gas sorption isotherms reveal that ZJU‐74a exhibits by far the record C2H2 capture capacity (49 cm3 g−1 at 0.01 bar and 296 K) and thus ultrahigh selectivity for C2H2/CO2 (36.5), C2H2/C2H4 (24.2), and C2H2/CH4 (1312.9) separation at ambient conditions, respectively, of which the C2H2/CO2 selectivity is the highest among all the robust MOFs reported so far. Theoretical calculations indicate that the oppositely adjacent nickel(II) centers together with cyanide groups from different layers in ZJU‐74a can construct a sandwich‐type adsorption site to offer dually strong and cooperative interactions for the C2H2 molecule, thus leading to its ultrahigh C2H2 capture capacity and selectivities. The exceptional separation performance of ZJU‐74a is confirmed by both simulated and experimental breakthrough curves for 50/50 (v/v) C2H2/CO2, 1/99 C2H2/C2H4, and 50/50 C2H2/CH4 mixtures under ambient conditions.

In this work, we reported a phenanthroline-based tetradentate ligand with hard-soft donors combined in the same molecule, N,N'-diethyl-N,N'-ditolyl-2,9-diamide-1,10-phenanthroline (Et-Tol-DAPhen), for the group separation of actinides over lanthanides. The synthesis and solvent extraction as well as complexation behaviors of the ligand with actinides and lanthanides are studied experimentally and theoretically. The ligand exhibits excellent extraction ability and high selectivity toward hexavalent, tetravalent, and trivalent actinides over lanthanides in highly acidic solution. The chemical stoichiometry of Th(IV) and U(VI) complexes with Et-Tol-DAPhen is determined to be 1:1 using X-ray crystallography. The stability constants of some typical actinide and lanthanide complexes of Et-Tol-DAPhen are also determined in methanol by UV-vis spectrometry. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the An-N bonds of the Et-Tol-DAPhen complexes have more covalent characters than the corresponding Eu-N bonds, which may in turn lead to the selectivity of Et-Tol-DAPhen toward actinides. This ligand possesses merits of both alkylamide and 2,9-bis-(5,6-dialkyl-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline (R-BTPhen) extractants for efficient actinide extraction and the selectivity toward minor actinides over lanthanides and hence renders huge potential opportunities in high-level liquid waste (HLLW) partitioning.

Identification of a non-thermal X-ray burst with the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 and a fast radio burst using

Purification of C 2 H 4 from a ternary C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 mixture by one-step adsorption separation is of prime importance but challenging in the petrochemical industry; however, effective strategies to design high-performance adsorbents are lacking. We herein report for the first time the incorporation of Lewis basic sites into a C 2 H 6 -selective MOF, enabling efficient one-step production of polymer-grade C 2 H 4 from ternary mixtures. Introduction of amino groups into highly stable C 2 H 6 -selective UiO-67 can not only partition large pores into smaller cagelike pockets to provide suitable pore confinement but also offer additional binding sites to simultaneously enhance C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 adsorption capacities over C 2 H 4 . The amino-functionalized UiO-67-(NH 2 ) 2 thus exhibits exceptionally high C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 uptakes as well as benchmark C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 and C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 selectivities, surpassing all of the C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 6 -selective materials reported so far. Theoretical calculations combined with in situ infrared spectroscopy indicate that the synergetic effect of suitable pore confinement and functional surfaces decorated with amino groups provides overall stronger multipoint van der Waals interactions with C 2 H 2 and C 2 H 6 over C 2 H 4 . The exceptional performance of UiO-67-(NH 2 ) 2 was evidenced by breakthrough experiments for C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 6 /C 2 H 4 mixtures under dry and wet conditions, providing a remarkable C 2 H 4 productivity of 0.55 mmol g −1 at ambient conditions.

Vapoluminescent materials that display reversible and naked eye perceivable colour or luminescence changes have been used as sensors for detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are toxic air pollutants. This feature article highlights recent advance in finding luminescence vapochromic solidstate materials based on d 6 , d 8 or d 10 metal complexes. It has been demonstrated that vapour-triggered luminescence colour changes are mostly relevant to a variation of weak interactions such as metalsolvent bonds, metallophilic contacts, p-p stacking, hydrogen bonding, host-guest affinity or reversible isomerization etc.