Selective Separation of Isomeric Dicarboxylic Acid by the Preferable Crystallization of Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Simple and effective separation of isomeric organic molecules is an important but challenging task. Herein, we successfully developed a selective crystallization strategy to separate the mixtures of isomeric dicarboxylic acids (DCAs) for the first time. The target DCAs could be preferably combined with crystallization inducer of Zr4+ ions to form a pre-designed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) crystal structure whereas the entry of non-target isomeric DACs into the MOFs lattice could be exclusively inhibited. Several isomeric pairs were exemplified to verify the extensibility and validity of the developed strategy.