DRIFT and Theoretical Studies of Ethylene/Ethane Separation on Flexible and Microporous [Cu2(2,3-pyrazinedicarboxylate)2(pyrazine)]n

The separation of olefins from paraffin is important for the production of industrial chemicals. Therefore, there is a need for a better separation system such as a pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) process. With regard to adsorbents that enable gas separation by PSA, CPL-1 {[Cu2(2,3-pyrazinedicarboxylate)2(pyrazine)]n} is an attractive porous material because of the flexibility and microporosity of the material, which provides it with a unique guest-responsive nature. Adsorption isotherm studies were conducted to elucidate the ethylene-selective adsorption properties of CPL-1, which was further examined by breakthrough experiments with ethylene-ethane binary gas mixtures at near room temperatures. Spectroscopic and computational approaches used to investigate the interaction between CPL-1 and the C2 gas molecules suggested that hydrogen bonds are important in the selective adsorption of ethylene over ethane.