RESUMO
Flexible metal-organic materials are of growing interest owing to their ability to undergo reversible structural transformations under external stimuli. Here, we report flexible metal-phenolic networks (MPNs) featuring stimuli-responsive behavior to diverse solute guests. The competitive coordination of metal ions to phenolic ligands of multiple coordination sites and solute guests (e.g., glucose) primarily determines the responsive behavior of the MPNs, as revealed experimentally and computationally. Glucose molecules can be embedded into the dynamic MPNs upon mixing, leading to the reconfiguration of the metal-organic networks and thus changes in their physicochemical properties for targeting applications. This study expands the library of stimuli-responsive flexible metal-organic materials and the understanding of intermolecular interactions between metal-organic materials and solute guests, which is essential for the rational design of responsive materials for various applications.
RESUMO
With the goal of achieving effective ethylene/ethane separation, we evaluated the gas sorption properties of four pillared-layer-type porous coordination polymers with double interpenetration, [Zn2(tp)2(bpy)]n (1), [Zn2(fm)2(bpe)]n (2), [Zn2(fm)2(bpa)]n (3), and [Zn2(fm)2(bpy)]n (4) (tp = terephthalate, bpy = 4,4'-bipyridyl, fm = fumarate, bpe = 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene and bpa = 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethane). It was found that 4, which contains the narrowest pores of all of these compounds, exhibited ethylene-selective sorption profiles. The ethylene selectivity of 4 was estimated to be 4.6 at 298â K based on breakthrough experiments using ethylene/ethane gas mixtures. In addition, 4 exhibited a good regeneration ability compared with a conventional porous material.