Water-Stable Europium 1,3,6,8-Tetrakis(4-carboxylphenyl)pyrene Framework for Efficient C₂H₂/CO₂ Separation

Compound {(Me₂NH₂)₃[Eu₇(μ₃-O)₂(TBAPy)₅(H₂O)₆]·12.5DMF} _n (JXNU-5), constructed from the 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(4-carboxylphenyl)pyrene (TBAPy^4-) ligand and one-dimensional (1D) europium carboxylate rods, is presented. JXNU-5 has a three-dimensional framework with 1D channels. The strong coordination bonds between Eu^III ions with high charge densities and carboxylate O atoms as well as strong π···π-stacking interactions between pyrenes lead to a water-resistant JXNU-5, which was verified by powder X-ray diffraction and surface area measurements. The breakthrough simulations and experiments demonstrate that an efficient C₂H₂/CO₂ (50/50 mixture) gas separation at ambient conditions was achieved with JXNU-5. The calculation results show that the dominating interactions between the absorbed C₂H₂ molecules and host framework are hydrogen bonds associated with the carboxylate O atoms exposed on the pores. Thus, an elegant example of a water-stable metal-organic framework for effective C₂H₂/CO₂ separation is demonstrated.