Functionalized metal organic frameworks promising porous materials for chemical separation

Abstract

The exigent usage of highly energy intensive routes such as large distillation columns azeotropic and extractive distillation methods has propelled the need for new generation tailored adsorbent materials such as pre functionalized MOFs These can act as superior host materials to manifest highly selective and recyclable sorption performance for particularly one of the azeotropic components among a pair or more of hydrocarbon adsorbates In general to circumvent energy intensive separation routes hitherto adopted such a new approach of harnessing designed functionalized MOFs may indeed prove significant in terms of developing coherent insights aimed at greener energy friendly scenario of industrially relevant aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbon species 8217 separation Moreover to tackle omnipresent major environmental issues such as marine oil spillages efficient oil water separation performance with high oil absorption capacity and recyclability attributes are the cornerstone components pursued for serving the application frontiers Under this backdrop appropriately fabricated polymer membranes based on highly hydrophobic and oleophilic MOF sorbents are of marked relevance We have developed new strategies for achieving the aforementioned multiple separation performances which seem reasonably promising from the energy and environmental standpoint of industrial hydrocarbon vapour separation and oil water separation Following a flexible di ether node based linker functionalization rationale dual adsorptive separation performances of p xylene and styrene over their congener C8 alkylaromatic isomeric species have been manifested by the ensuing dynamic MOF Selective sorption of benzene over cyclohexane C6 azeotropes has also been materialized by two different coherent approaches While the first one is derived from electron deficient pore functionalization approach stemming from the novel employment of diaminotriazine linker the other one is entirely consequent of a tactical exploitation of the coordinatively u