A new approach to construct a doubly interpenetrated microporous metal-organic framework of primitive cubic net for highly selective sorption of small hydrocarbon molecules.

A new approach has been realized to construct a three-dimensional doubly interpenetrated cubic metal-organic framework Zn(2)(PBA)(2)(BDC)·(DMF)(3)(H(2)O)(4) (UTSA-36, HPBA=4-(4-pyridyl) benzoic acid, H(2)BDC=1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid) through the self-assembly of the pyridylcarboxylate linker 4-(4-pyridyl) benzoate and bicarboxylate linker 1,4-benzenedicarxylate with paddle-wheel [Zn(2)(COO)(4)]. The activated UTSA-36a exhibits highly selective gas sorption of C(2)H(6), C(2)H(4) and C(2)H(2) over CH(4) with the Henry law's selectivities of 11 to 25 in the temperature range of 273 to 296 K attributed to the unique 3D intersected pore structure of about 3.1 to 4.8 Å within the framework, indicating that UTSA-36a is a potentially very useful and promising microporous material for such industrially important separation of C(2) hydrocarbons over methane.