The efficient separation of xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr) is one of the industrially important processes. While adsorptive separation of these two species is considered to be an energy efficient process, developing highly selective adsorbent remains challenging. Herein, a rigid squarate-based metal− organic framework (MOF), having a perfect pore size (4.1 Å × 4.3 Å) comparable with the kinetic diameter of Xe (4.047 Å) as well as pore surface decorated with very polar hydroxyl groups, is able to effectively discriminate Xe atoms, affording a record-high Xe/Kr selectivity. An exceptionally high Xe uptake capacity of 58.4 cm 3 /cm 3 and selectivity of 60.6 at low pressure (0.2 bar) are achieved at ambient temperature. The MOF exhibits the highest Xe Henry coefficient (192.1 mmol/g/bar) and Xe/Kr Henry selectivity (54.1) among all state-of-the-art adsorbents reported so far. Direct breakthrough experiments further confirm the excellent separation performance. The density functional theory calculations reveal that the strong interaction between Xe and the framework is a result of the synergy between optimal pore size and polar porosity.

Selective elimination of sulfur dioxide is significant in flue gas desulfurization and natural gas purification, yet developing adsorbents with high capture capacity especially at low partial pressure as well as excellent cycling stability remains a challenge. Herein, a family of isostructural gallate-based MOFs with abundant hydrogen bond donors decorating the pore channel was reported for selective recognition and dense packing of sulfur dioxide via multiple hydrogen bonding interactions. Multiple O···H–O hydrogen bonds and O···H–C hydrogen bonds guarantee SO2 molecules are firmly grasped within the framework, and appropriate pore apertures afford dense packing of SO2 with high uptake and density up to 1.86 g cm–3, which is evidenced by dispersion-corrected density functional theory calculations and X-ray diffraction resolution of a SO2-loaded single crystal. Ultrahigh adsorption uptake of SO2 at extremely low pressure (0.002 bar) was achieved on Co-gallate (6.13 mmol cm–3), outperforming all reported state-of-the-art MOFs. Record-high IAST selectivity of SO2/CO2 (325 for Mg-gallate) and ultrahigh selectivity of SO2/N2 (>1.0 × 104) and SO2/CH4 (>1.0 × 104) were also realized. Breakthrough experiments further demonstrate the excellent removal performance of trace amounts of SO2 in a deep desulfurization process. More importantly, M-gallate shows almost unchanged breakthrough performance after five cycles, indicating the robust cycling stability of these MOFs.

The separation and purification of xylene isomers is an industrially important but challenging process. Developing highly efficient adsorbents is crucial for the implementation of simulated moving bed technology for industrial separation of these isomers. Herein, we report a stacked one-dimensional coordination polymer {[Mn(dhbq)(H 2 O) 2 ], H 2 dhbq = 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone} that exhibits an ideal molecular recognition and sieving of xylene isomers. Its distinct temperature-adsorbate–dependent adsorption behavior enables full separation of p -, m -, and o -xylene isomers in both vapor and liquid phases. The delicate stimuli-responsive swelling of the structure imparts this porous material with exceptionally high flexibility and stability, well-balanced adsorption capacity, high selectivity, and fast kinetics at conditions mimicking industrial settings. This study may offer an alternative approach for energy-efficient and adsorption-based industrial xylene separation and purification processes.

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The simultaneous capture of trace propyne and propadiene from propylene is one of the important but energy demanding industrial processes because of their similar physicochemical properties as well as the ultralow concentration in the mixtures. Herein, a highly stable Ca-based MOF, constructed from an inexpensive precursor (CaCO3) and rigid squaric acid, is capable of preferentially capturing trace propyne and propadiene with record-high uptake capacities of 2.44 and 2.64 mmol/g at pressures as low as 5 mbar, respectively. Direct multicomponent breakthrough experiments confirm that Ca-based MOF exhibits an excellent performance for simultaneous removal of trace propyne and propadiene from propylene. DFT simulation and in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction of propadiene- and propyne-adsorbed Ca-based MOFs reveal that the strong affinity of the framework toward two species is ascribed to the multiple types of cooperative binding including π–π stacking and C–H···O interactions. The calcium squarate framework sets a new benchmark for adsorptive purification of propylene, showing great potential in the practical application.

The pore size of adsorbents plays a vital role in determining the overall separation performance of gas separation and purification by adsorption. In this work, the pore apertures of the coordination pillared layer (CPL) was systematically controlled by adjusting the length of pillared ligands. We used pyrazine, 4,4′-bipyridine, and 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)-ethylene with increased length to synthesize CPL-1 (L = pyrazine), CPL-2 (L = 4,4′-bipyridine), and CPL-5 [L = 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)-ethylene], respectively. The aperture size of these CPLs varies from 4 to 11 Å: CPL-1 (4 × 6 Å 2 ), CPL-2 (9 × 6 Å 2 ), and CPL-5 (11 × 6 Å 2 ). Among the three frameworks, CPL-2 exhibits the highest C 2 H 2 uptake at ambient conditions as it has moderate pore size and porosity. However, CPL-1 has the best separation performance in the breakthrough experiments with binary gas mixture of C 2 H 2 /C 2 H 4 , thanks to the optimal pore size nearly excluding C 2 H 4 , which is only observed in the state-of-the-art UTSA-300a so far. The DFT calculations were carried out to elucidate the specific adsorption sites for both acetylene and ethylene among these frameworks. The modeling results suggest that binding strength is highly related to aperture size and that CPL-1 shows the highest adsorption selectivity owing to the optimal pore size. This work demonstrates that engineering pore size enables us to fabricate the highly efficient metal−organic framework (MOF)-based adsorbents for specific gas separation on the basis of the isoreticular chemistry.

The separation of mixed C4 olefins is a highly energy-intensive operation in the chemical industry due to the close boiling points of the unsaturated C4 isomers. In particular, the separation of trans/cis-2-butene is among the most challenging separation processes for geometric isomers and is of prime importance to increase the added value of C4 olefins. In this work, we report a series of isostructural gallate-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), namely, M-gallate (M = Ni, Mg, Co), featuring oval-shaped pores, that are ideally suitable for shape-selective separation of trans/cis-2-butene through their differentiation in minimum molecular cross-section size. Significantly, Mg-gallate displays a record high trans/cis-2-butene uptake selectivity of 3.19 at 298 K, 1.0 bar in single-component adsorption isotherms. These gallate-based MOFs not only exhibit the highest selectivity for trans/cis-2-butene separation but also accomplish a highly efficient separation of 1,3-butadiene, 1-butene, and iso-butene. DFT-D study shows that Mg-gallate interacts strongly with trans-2-butene and 1,3-butadiene along with short distances of C···H–O cooperative supramolecular interaction of 2.57–2.83 and 2.45–2.79 Å, respectively. In breakthrough experiments, Mg-gallate not only displays prominent separation performance for trans/cis-2-butene but also realizes the clean separation of a ternary mixture of 1,3-butadiene/1-butene/iso-butene and a binary mixture of 1-butene/iso-butene. This work indicates that M-gallate are industrially promising materials for adsorption separation of geometric isomers of C4 hydrocarbons.

Adsorptive separation of xenon (Xe) and krypton (Kr) is a promising technique but remains a daunting challenge since they are atomic gases without dipole or quadruple moments. Herein we report a strategy for fabricating angular anion-pillared materials featuring shell-like Xe nano-traps, which provide a cooperative effect conferred by the pore confinement and multiple specific interactions. The perfect permanent pore channel (4-5 Å) of Ni(4-DPDS) 2 MO 4 (M = Cr, Mo, W) can host Xe atoms efficiently even at ultralow concentration (400 ppm Xe), showing the secondhighest selectivity of 30.2 in Ni(4-DPDS) 2 WO 4 and excellent Xe adsorption capacity in Ni(4-DPDS) 2 CrO 4 (15.0 mmol kg À 1 ). Crystallography studies and DFT-D calculations revealed the energy favorable binding sites and angular anions enable the synergism between optimal pore size and polar porosity for boosting Xe affinity. Dynamic breakthrough experiments demonstrated three MOFs as efficient adsorbents for Xe/Kr separation.