Gas adsorption/separation properties of metal directed self-assembly of two coordination polymers with 5-nitroisophthalate

In this study, two new coordination polymers, namely, [Co(µ-nip)(µ-bpe)]n (1) and [Zn(µ-nip)(µ-bpe)]n (2) (nip: 5-nitroisophthalate, bpe: 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane) were hydrothermally synthesized and structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and thermal analysis. Moreover, atomically detailed simulation studies of complex 2 for CO2/CH4 adsorption and separation were performed. Complex 1 consists of two dimensional (2D) (4,4) grid networks with the point symbol of 44.62. Complex 2 exhibits a 3-fold interpenetrating 3D framework with 65.8-dmp topology. Simulation studies demonstrated that complex 2 can separate CO2 from CH4 at low pressures at 273 K.