Two Metal-Organic Frameworks with a Fused Cis-Decalin Conformation for Multimedia Iodine Capture

The extensive growth of nuclear power plants has a severe detrimental effect on human health and the surroundings due to the uncontrolled and unfiltered release of radioactive wastes into the environment. One such radioactive waste is ¹²⁹I which has a fatal effect when released into the air or water bodies. Hence, molecular and ionic iodine capture from multimedia has become an important area of interest in the recent past. This work is aimed at introducing two 2D metal-organic frameworks with a fused cis-decalin conformation, {[Zn₂(tpbn)(fdc)₂]·6H₂O} (1) and {[Cd₂(tpbn)(fdc)₂(H₂O)₂]·2H₂O} (2), synthesized at room temperature utilizing a combination of M(OAc)₂·2H₂O (M: Zn/Cd), a neutral flexible ligand, tpbn, and a simple commercially available furan dicarboxylate, fdc^2-, for the target application. The polarizing nature of the furan moieties and the oxygen rich pores in 1 and 2 facilitate the easy capture of molecular iodine from both the vapor phase and aqueous media with high uptake values. Furthermore, their efficiency was tested for the practical application under real-world conditions using river and seawater. In addition to confirming their recyclability with the retention of structural integrity, the interaction between 1 and 2 with iodine has also been established with experimental and theoretical calculations.