Water–alkane Interface Promotes the Formation of Metal–organic Frameworks

To develop facile, rapid and low-energy route for metal-organic framework (MOF) formation is of great importance. Here a water-alkane interface strategy was proposed for the MOF formation at room temperature. The content and molecular structure of alkane phase were found to have remarkable effect on regulating the porosity properties of MOFs. For example, the MOF synthesized in 1:1 (v/v) water/n-hexane mixture has the largest BET surface area (1474.1 m(2)/g) and total pore volume (0.7030 cm(3)/g). The mechanism was discussed from the competitive adsorption of water and alkane in the micropores of MOF building blocks during formation process. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.