Highly Robust Tetranuclear Cobalt-Based 3D Framework for Efficient CH/CO and CH/CHSeparations.

A novel noninterpenetrated tetranuclear cobalt(II)-based metal-organic framework, (NH)·[Co(μ-OH)(ina)(pip)]·4EtOH·HO (simplified as ·S), constructed by mix linkers was synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Interestingly, the presence of a hydrophobic benzene ring in the organic linker makes ·S exhibit high stability in high temperature and even in aqueous solution over a wide pH range of about 4-13. Magnetic studies showed that the tetranuclear cobalt(II) units in ·S show dominant antiferromangetic properties. However, in the absence of Lewis basic functional sites and open metal sites in the material, still displays high CH/CO and CH/CH selectivity in ideal adsorbed solution theory calculations and dynamic breakthrough experiments. Moreover, density functional theory calculations were performed to identify the adsorption characteristics of different gas molecules.