Dynamic Calcium Metal-Organic Framework Acts as a Selective Organic Solvent Sponge

Herein, we present a Ca-based metal-organic framework named AEPF-1, which is an active and selective catalyst in olefin hydrogenation reactions. AEPF-1 exhibits a phase transition upon desorption of guest molecules. This structural transformation takes place by a crystal to crystal transformation accompanied by the loss of single-crystal integrity. Powder diffraction methods and computational studies were applied to determine the structure of the guest-free phase. This work also presents data on the exceptional adsorption behavior of this material, which is shown to be capable of separating polar from nonpolar organic solvents, and is a good candidate for selective solvent adsorption under mild conditions.