Study of selective adsorption of aromatic compounds from solutions by the flexible MIL-53(Al) metal-organic framework

The dynamic method under conditions close to equilibrium was applied to study the liquid-phase adsorption in the Henry region for a series of aromatic compounds on the MIL-53(Al) metal-organic framework at different temperatures. The interpretation of the obtained experimental adsorption data was based on the TOPOS analysis of the structure of the cavities in the MIL-53(Al) framework using the Voronoi—Dirichlet polyhedra concept. It is shown that the adsorption activity of the investigated material under the liquid-phase conditions is governed by a possible expansion of the channels and cavities in the structure and by a breathing effect of the structure caused by the temperature variation. The selectivity of adsorption shown by MIL-53(Al) for a series of the studied compounds is due to the adsorbate—adsorbent π—π-interaction and hydrogen bonding of adsorbate molecules with Brönsted acid sites of the metal-organic framework. High adsorption selectivity of the MIL-53(Al) framework were found for compounds differed in the number of aromatic rings in the molecule and the presence of the methyl substituent, as well as for aromatic hydrocarbons and their sulfur-containing heterocyclic analogs.