Finely Controlled Stepwise Engineering of Pore Environments and Mechanistic Elucidation of Water-Stable, Flexible 2D Porous Coordination Polymers.

Two porous coordination polymers (PCPs) with different topologies (NTU-19: sql and NTU-20: dia) underwent finely controlled, stepwise crystal conversions to yield a common water-stable, flexible 2D framework (NTU-22: kgm). The crystal conversions occurred directly at higher temperature via the 3D intermediate (NTU-21: nbo), which could be observed at lower temperature. The successful isolation of the intermediate product of NTU-21, characterization with in situ PXRD and UV/Vis spectra were combined with DFT calculations to allow an understanding of the dynamic processes at the atomic level. Remarkably, breakthrough experiments demonstrate NTU-22 with integral structural properties allowed significant CO2 /CH4 mixture separation.

Unified meso-pores and dense Cu2+ sites in porous coordination polymers for highly efficient gas storage and separation.

Unified meso-pores and dense open metal sites (OMS) in porous coordination polymers (PCPs) allow highly promising H2 and C2-hydrocarbon storage, as well as rapid and efficient C2H2/4 enrichment from CO2 mixtures. The positive function of the OMS, associated with guest thermodynamics, was well revealed by in situ infrared (IR) spectroscopy study.