Diazomethane mediated sealing of carboxylic moieties in MOFs: Opening doors for increased hydrophobicity

Abstract

The toxic gas deactivation and liquid phase separation through the metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted rapid advances in this burgeoning field. However, MOF stability and its sensitivity to water are still in the developmental stages. Herein, we report a novel strategy to seal the moisture-sensitive functionality using scalable and safely generated continuous flow diazomethane, demonstrating enhanced hydrophobicity and its multifaceted application in organic/aqueous phase separation, and self-cleaning. This work demonstrates the first attempt at sealing sensitive functional groups with diazomethane for hydrophobic MOFs, exploring the new proof of concept in the design of stable MOFs with controlled wettability application. Taking advantage of these characteristics of HKUST-1-60 M as strengthening aqueous/ organic solution separation filters. MOF diazomethane treatment concept may be also widened to afford valuable insights in designing and developing advanced membranes for effective separation of aqueous organic solution.