Design and Fabrication of a Novel Water- and Heat-Resistant Cu-Based Coordination Compound for Dibenzothiophene Capture

Many metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) suffer from hydrothermal instability issues, which definitely restricted their practical applications, such as deep desulfurization. In the present contribution, we report a novel copper-based MOF (CuCC–OMe) consisting of a central metal (Cu²⁺) and organic ligand (5-methoxyisophthalic acid), exhibiting excellent hydrothermal stability. This CuCC–OMe impressively retained its structural integrity, even soaked in water for 10 days or contacted with boiling water for 10 h. The presence of open metal sites (Cu²⁺) in the CuCC–OMe structure plays a decisive status for the dibenzothiophene-capture process. Although a lower surface area (29 m²/g) of as-prepared CuCC–OMe, our experimental results indicated that the sulfur uptake capacity of CuCC–OMe can reach 1.23 mmol of S/mol of Cu, exceeding some MOFs and other adsorbents previously reported in the literature. This remarkable ability of adsorptive removal of sulfur compounds could be primarily ascribed to the stronger active sites of Cu²⁺ in the CuCC–OMe framework. We believe that our study opens up a new perspective for the design and preparation of hydrothermally stable MOFs with a high sulfur capacity in practical potential.