Microporous metal-organic frameworks with suitable pore spaces for acetylene storage and purification

• Two microporous metal-organic frameworks have been synthesized and characterized.
• The metal-organic frameworks exhibit high acetylene storage capacity.
• The metal-organic frameworks exhibit high selectivities of C2H2/CH4 and C2H2/CO2.

Two isostructural metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) Cu2TPTC-Me and Cu2TPTC-OMe have been synthesized and characterized. The as-synthesized MOFs show good thermal stability and hydrothermal stability. With open metal sites, suitable pore spaces and functional groups to confine acetylene molecules in frameworks, both MOFs exhibit high gravimetric acetylene storage capacities: Cu2TPTC-Me has a gravimetric capacity of 203 cm3 g−1 at 298 K and 1 bar, and Cu2TPTC-OMe has the highest gravimetric acetylene storage capacity ever reported with the capacity of 204 cm3 g−1 under the same conditions. Furthermore, Cu2TPTC-Me possesses both high separation selectivities of C2H2/CH4 and C2H2/CO2 with the Henry law's selectivity of 60 and 12.7 at room temperature, respectively.

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