Amino-functionalized Cu-MOF for efficient purification of methane from light hydrocarbons and excellent catalytic performance

A 3D microporous MOF [Cu1.5(BTB-NH2)(H2O)2]·6DMA·5H2O (UPC-99) of the (2,3,4-c)-net novel topology type was successfully constructed by the amino-functionalized ligand and Cu(II) ions via a solvothermal method. Due to the presence of two channels with open Cu(II) sites and –NH2 groups, UPC-99 exhibits a high adsorption selectivity of 15.3 for CO2/CH4 at 1 bar and 273 K. Remarkably, UPC-99 exhibits a significant adsorption difference in C3H6 and C3H8 relative to CH4 and shows a high separation selectivity for C3 light hydrocarbons relative to CH4 (496.7 for C3H6/CH4 and 410.5 for C3H8/CH4 at 273 K, 1 bar) by single-component gas sorption and selectivity calculations in IAST methods. Moreover, the presence of open Lewis acidic Cu(II) sites in the channels allows UPC-99 to exhibit excellent catalytic performance in the catalytic cycloaddition reactions of CO2 with epoxides.