A new microporous anionic metal–organic framework as a platform for highly selective adsorption and separation of organic dyes

We report a new microporous negatively charged metal–organic framework (MOF), [(C 2 H 5 ) 2 NH 2 ] 2 [Mn 6 (L)(OH) 2 (H 2 O) 6 ]·4DEF ( 1 ) (H 12 L = 5,5′,5′′,5′′′,5′′′′,5′′′′′-[1,2,3,4,5,6-phenylhexamethoxyl]hexaisophthalic acid and DEF = N , N ′-diethylformamide), and its utilization as a platform for the highly selective adsorption and separation of organic dyes through an ion-exchange process. The dynamics of selective adsorption, separation and release of a series of organic dyes demonstrated that this exchange-based separation process is highly related to the sizes or charges of organic dyes, and this relationship can be controlled by the structural characteristics of MOF 1 .