Tailoring the Pore Environment of a Robust Ga-MOF by Deformed [GaO(COO)] Cluster for Boosting CH Uptake and Separation.

The construction of superstable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for selective gas uptake is urgently demanded but remains a great challenge. Herein, a unique bifunctional deformed [GaO(COO)] inorganic secondary building unit (SBU) generated from the desymmetrical evolution of typical triangular prismatic trinuclear cluster was first introduced, which was extended by an isosceles triangular organic linker to produce a robust Ga-MOF (). Remarkably, can stabilize in water at 25 °C for 96 h and at 80 °C for more than 24 h, which surpasses nearly all other Ga-MOFs. The combined effects of open metal sites and hydrophobic pore environment provided by deformed [GaO] SBUs render with high CH storage capacity and efficient CH and natural gas purification performance. The ideal adsorbed solution theory calculation, column breakthrough tests, and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that is a potential material for addressing the challenge of CH/CO and CH/CH mixture separation under ambient conditions.