Metal-organic framework Cu-BTC

Introduction Metal-organic framework Cu-BTC

Cu-BTC (BTC: 1,3,5-Benzentricarboxylicacid), also known HKUST-1, MOF-199 and Cu₃(BTC)₂, is one of the first and well- known MOFs. This copper-based MOF is composed of BTC ligand with dicopper paddlewheel secondary building unites (SBU). One water molecule is coordinated to each of the two metal centers at the axial positions of the paddlewheel units. The coordinated water molecule can be easily removed by activation process (heating, vacuum). This creates open metal sites (unsaturated Cu sites) that can act as Lewis acid for heterogenous catalysis or potential active sites for gas adsorption. This creates open metal sites (unsaturated Cu sites) that can act as Lewis acid for heterogenous catalysis or potential active sites for gas adsorption. The color of Cu-BTC is blue but turned into dark purple after activation. The activated MOF switched from purple to blue upon moisture adsorption.

Cu-BTC is a highly porous MOF with open metal sites, which has shown promising performance for different application such as gas adsorption and separation, catalysis, gas sensing, etc.