Fine-tuning of the confined space in microporous metal–organic frameworks for efficient mercury removal

DOI: 10.1039/C7TA06199D

Authors: Marta Mon (Universidad de Valencia) , Xiaoni Qu (Universidad de Valencia; Northwest University) , Jesus Ferrando-Soria (Universidad de Valencia) , Isaac Pellicer-Carreño (Universidad de Alicante) , Antonio Sepulveda-Escribano (Universidad de Alicante) , Enrique V. Ramos-Fernandez (Universidad de Alicante) , Johannes C. Jansen (Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR) , Donatella Armentano (Università della Calabria) , Emilio Pardo (Universidad de Valencia)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Journal Of Materials Chemistry A , VOL 251

State: Published (Approved)
Published: August 2017
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 15244

Abstract: Offsetting the impact of human activities on the biogeochemical cycle of mercury has become necessary for a sustainable planet. Herein, we report the development of a water-stable and eco-friendly metal–organic framework, which has the formula {Cu4 II[(S,S)-methox]2}. 5H2O (1), where methox is bis[(S)-methionine]oxalyl diamide. Its features include narrow functional channels decorated with thioalkyl chains, which are able to capture HgCl2 from aqueous media in an efficient, selective, and rapid manner. The conscious design effort in terms of size, shape, and reactivity of the channels results in extremely efficient immobilization of HgCl2 guest species in a very stable conformation, similar to that of the enzyme mercury reductase. Thus, 1 enables the highly efficient removal of toxic HgCl2 from aqueous media and reduces the [Hg2+] concentration from the dangerous level of 10 ppm to acceptable limits of below 2 ppb in drinking water. The unusual combination of a low-cost straightforward synthetic procedure and high stability under environmental conditions, together with its ability to efficiently and rapidly remove poisonous mercury ions, places 1 among themost attractive adsorbents reported to date for the purification of contaminated water.

Journal Keywords: Metal Organic Frameworks; Mercury; decontamination; X-ray structures

Subject Areas: Environment, Chemistry, Materials


Instruments: I19-Small Molecule Single Crystal Diffraction

Other Facilities: Crystal beamline at SOLEIL

Added On: 20/09/2017 14:17

Discipline Tags:

Desertification & Pollution Earth Sciences & Environment Chemistry Materials Science Metal-Organic Frameworks Metallurgy Organometallic Chemistry

Technical Tags:

Diffraction Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction (SXRD)