Issue 7, 2015

Versatile rare earth hexanuclear clusters for the design and synthesis of highly-connected ftw-MOFs

Abstract

A series of highly porous MOFs were deliberately targeted to contain a 12-connected rare earth hexanuclear cluster and quadrangular tetracarboxylate ligands. The resultant MOFs have an underlying topology of ftw, and are thus (4,12)-c ftw-MOFs. This targeted rare earth ftw-MOF platform offers the potential to assess the effect of pore functionality and size, via ligand functionalization and/or expansion, on the adsorption properties of relevant gases. Examination of the gas adsorption properties of these compounds showed that the ftw-MOF-2 analogues, constructed from rigid ligands with a phenyl, naphthyl, or anthracene core exhibited a relatively high degree of porosity. The specific surface areas and pore volumes of these analogs are amongst the highest reported for RE-based MOFs. Further studies revealed that the Y-ftw-MOF-2 shows promise as a storage medium for methane (CH4) at high pressures. Furthermore, Y-ftw-MOF-2 shows potential as a separation agent for the selective removal of normal butane (n-C4H10) and propane (C3H8) from natural gas (NG) as well as interesting properties for the selective separation of n-C4H10 from C3H8 or isobutane (iso-C4H10).

Graphical abstract: Versatile rare earth hexanuclear clusters for the design and synthesis of highly-connected ftw-MOFs

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
17 Feb 2015
Accepted
15 Apr 2015
First published
15 Apr 2015
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 4095-4102

Versatile rare earth hexanuclear clusters for the design and synthesis of highly-connected ftw-MOFs

R. Luebke, Y. Belmabkhout, Ł. J. Weseliński, A. J. Cairns, M. Alkordi, G. Norton, Ł. Wojtas, K. Adil and M. Eddaoudi, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 4095 DOI: 10.1039/C5SC00614G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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