Harnessing Shape Complementarity for Upgraded Cyclohexane Purification through Adaptive Bottlenecked Pores in an Imidazole‐Containing MOF

Shape complementarity is a biological craft for precisely binding substrates at protein–protein interfaces. An analogy to such a function can be drawn conceptually for crystalline porous solids; yet the manifested entities are rare in reticular chemistry. The bottleneck‐shaped pores carved out of a metal‐organic framework, Zn(MIBA)2 (aka. MAF‐stu‐13), can perfectly accommodate benzene molecules. Remarkably, its framework adapts to the optimal guest binding‐the enhanced host–guest interactions in the neck in turn minimize the guest‐guest repulsion in the pore to the extent it turns into attraction‐as demonstrated by the combined X‐ray structural and DFT computational studies. This adaptive material can be used for liquid‐phase production of ultrahigh‐purity (≥99 %) cyclohexane, achieving a balance between uptake capacity and separation selectivity and surpassing the performances of other porous and nonporous crystals reported recently (e.g. product purity 99.4 % vs. 97.5 % to date). The bottlenecked pores in an imidazole‐containing MOF, namely MAF‐stu‐13, can adapt in shape to specifically bind benzene molecules, making it desirable for upgraded purification to yield ultrahigh‐purity (≥99 %) cyclohexane in the late stage of industrial liquid‐phase production.