A Hydrophobic Metal-Organic Framework Based on Cubane-Type [Co4(μ3- F)3(μ3-SO4)]3+ Clusters for Gas Storage and Adsorption Selectivity of Benzene over Cyclohexane

Hydrophobic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) not only have high water stability, but also exhibit high adsorption capacity towards organic molecules, in particular hydrocarbons. Herein we report a rare metal fluoride organic framework MFOF-1 with high hydrophobicity, which is constructed from unprecedented fluoride- and sulfate-bridged cubane-type tetranuclear cobalt clusters. MFOF-1 consists of three types of polyhedral cages with face-sharing configurations, and possesses a novel (3,9)-connected 3D+3D -> 3D self-interpenetrating array or the rare pyr topology. MFOF-1 shows high thermal stability and high stability in water and even acid/base aqueous solutions, and exhibits rather high H-2 and CO2 storage capacities at ambient pressure. Remarkably, MFOF-1 shows little adsorption of water but considerably high uptakes of methanol, n-hexane, cyclohexane, and benzene, and exhibits a certain degree of adsorption selectivity of benzene over cyclohexane.