C 2 H 2 capture and separation in a MOF based on Ni 6 trigonal-prismatic units.

A honeycomb MOF, based on rare Ni 6 trigonal-prismatic supermolecular building blocks, was fabricated by utilizing an unexploited [1,1'-biphenyl]-3,3',5,5'-tetracarboxylic acid linker with -NH 2 substituent groups. The MOF contains novel building blocks and an enchanting structure, and also exhibits water-stable characteristics. Uniquely, the accessible adsorption sites, arising due to the high-density Lewis-basic amino-coordinated groups and uncoordinated carboxylate O atoms in the pores, endow the MOF with excellent capture and separation capabilities for C 2 H 2 .