ABSTRACT
Ordered crystalline porous materials offer the potential for selective
adsorption by exploiting differences in molecular configurations.
Zeolites are readily available, very stable, and cheap. A zeolite should
have the right combination of high adsorption selectivity, combined
with an adequate capacity for use in traditionally used fixed-bed
devices. Recently, new classes of nanoporous materials have been
designed that have good stability, high void volumes, and well-
defined tailorable cavities of uniform size. Examples are metal-
organic frameworks (MOFs) [Chui et al. (1999); Li et al. (1999);
Eddaoudi et al. (2002); Yaghi et al. (2003); Kitagawa et al. (2004);
Snurr et al. (2004); Mueller et al. (2006); Fe´rey (2008); Robson
(2008); Long and Yaghi (2009); Telfer (2010)], covalent organic
frameworks (COFs) [Coˆte´ et al. (2005); El-Kaderi et al. (2007)], and
zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) [Park et al. (2006)]. These
novel materials possess almost unlimited structural variety because
of the many combinations of building blocks that can be imagined.
MOFs are synthesized under solvo-or hydrothermal conditions.
During synthesis the building blocks self-assemble into crystalline
materials that, after evacuation, can find applications in adsorption
separations, air purification, gas storage, chemical sensing, and
catalysis [Snurr et al. (2004); Mueller et al. (2006); Jiang (2012b)].
