Stepwise Synthesis of Cl-Decorated Trinuclear-Cu Cluster-Based Frameworks for CH/CH and CH/CO Separation.

A novel Cl-decorated trinuclear-Cu cluster-based MOF (, NbU denotes Ningbo University) was synthesized by a stepwise synthesis strategy. Compared to one-step reactions, the strategy of combining cationic templates with single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation provides more possibilities for the design and postsynthetic modification of multifunctional materials. Note that the chloride ions are attached to the copper ions of the planar trinuclear cluster nodes in a fully symmetric or partially asymmetric manner. The insertion of the chloride ion can alter the overall symmetry and adsorption energy in addition to occupying the appropriate asymmetric orbit and reducing the effective active sites of metal. The activated displays improved CH uptake capacity and CH/CH and CH/CO separation performance, which is proved by breakthrough experiments.