Systemic regulation of binding sites in porous coordination polymers for ethylene purification from ternary C2 hydrocarbons.

The global demand for poly-grade ethylene (CH) is increasing annually. However, the energy-saving purification of this gas remains a major challenge due to the similarity in molecular properties among the ternary C2 hydrocarbons. To address this challenge, we report an approach of systematic tuning of the pore environment with organic sites (from -COOH to -CF, then to -CH) in porous coordination polymers (PCPs), of which NTU-73-CH shows remarkable capability for the direct production of poly-grade CH from ternary C2 hydrocarbons under ambient conditions.