Scalable Synthesis of Robust MOF for Challenging Ethylene Purification and Propylene Recovery with Record Productivity

Ethylene (C₂H₄) purification and propylene (C₃H₆) recovery are highly relevant in polymer synthesis, yet developing physisorbents for these industrial separation faces the challenges of merging easy scalability, economic feasibility, high moisture stability with great separation efficiency. Herein, we reported a robust and scalable MOF (MAC-4) for simultaneous recovery of C₃H₆ and C₂H₄. Through creating nonpolar pores decorated by accessible N/O sites, MAC-4 displays top-tier uptakes and selectivities for C₂H₆ and C₃H₆ over C₂H₄ at ambient conditions. Molecular modelling combined with infrared spectroscopy revealed that C₂H₆ and C₃H₆ molecules were trapped in the framework with stronger contacts relative to C₂H₄. Breakthrough experiments demonstrated exceptional separation performance for binary C₂H₆/C₂H₄ and C₃H₆/C₂H₄ as well as ternary C₃H₆/C₂H₆/C₂H₄ mixtures, simultaneously affording record productivities of 27.4 and 36.2 L kg^-1 for high-purity C₂H₄ (≥99.9 %) and C₃H₆ (≥99.5 %). MAC-4 was facilely prepared at deckgram-scale under reflux condition within 3 hours, making it as a smart MOF to address challenging gas separations.