Selective carbon dioxide adsorption by mixed-ligand porous coordination polymers

Porous coordination polymers (PCPs), also referred to as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), have firmly established themselves as a class of excellent solid-state sorbents for carbon dioxide (CO2) along with their other several exciting properties. The mixed-ligand PCPs, constructed with polycarboxylates and N, N'-donor ligands, have been adopted for the fabrication of novel functional PCPs/MOFs, as the combination of different ligands with metal ions offer a better control over the structural variation of the frameworks compared to a single ligand. In this highlight, we have emphasized some of such important mixed linker-based MOFs with different carboxylate ligands and N, N'-donor linkers that act as excellent materials for CO2 adsorption and separation. The prospect of such mixed-ligand MOFs for the effective separation and sequestration of CO2 is also addressed by means of discussing different strategies for designing mixed-ligand MOFs that not only can potentially improve the amount of CO2 adsorption but also can increase the selectivity of CO2 uptake over other gases and volatiles.