Chromatography in a Single Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) Crystal

Millimeter-sized single MOF-5 crystals are used as chromatographic columns to effectively separate mixtures of organic dyes. Remarkably, owing to the nanoscopic pore dimensions and the molecular-level interactions between the migrating molecules and the MOF scaffold, the separations occur over a distance of only a few hundred micrometers which is unambiguously confirmed by fluorescence confocal microscopy.