A family of rare earth porous coordination polymers with different flexibility for CO2/C2H4 and CO2/C2H6 separation

A family of new porous coordination polymers (PCPs) were prepared by the reaction of an acylamide modified ligand (H3L) and RE(NO)3·xH2O (RE = Y, La, Ce, Nd, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Tm). PXRD and single-crystal X-ray analyses of them revealed that, besides the La PCP, all other rare earth members gave isomorphous structures. The two types of structural toplogies obtained, although similar, differ in their alignment of acylamide functional groups and structural flexibility. Adsorption experiments and in situ DRIFT spectra showed that rigid frameworks have the typical microporous behavior and poor selective capture of CO2 over C2H4 and C2H6; however, the unique La-PCP with structural flexibility and close-packed acylamide groups has a high selective capture of CO2 with respect to C2H6 or C2H4 at 273 K, especially at the ambient pressure area (0.1-1 bar).