Significant gas uptake enhancement by post-exchange of zinc(ii) with copper(ii) within a metal–organic framework

Abstract

Coordination of a tetratopic nitrogen-rich linker with Zn(2+) under solvothermal conditions afforded a Zn-based metal organic framework (MOF), where the Zn(II) ions could be exchanged by Cu(II) ions in a single-crystal-to-single-crystal fashion leading to a new Cu-based MOF. Such transformation induces a significant enhancement in gas sorption along with a high selectivity towards CO(2) over N(2) and CH(4).