The activation of open coordination sites (OCSs) in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), i.e., the removal of solvent molecules coordinated at the OCSs, is an essential step that is required prior to the use of MOFs in potential applications such as gas chemisorption, separation, and catalysis because OCSs often serve as key sites in these applications. Recently, we developed a "chemical activation" method involving dichloromethane (DCM) treatment at room temperature, which is considered to be a promising alternative to conventional thermal activation (TA), because it does not require the application of external thermal energy, thereby preserving the structural integrity of the MOFs. However, strongly coordinating solvents such as N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), N,N-diethylformamide (DEF), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are difficult to remove solely with the DCM treatment. In this report, we demonstrate a multiple coordination exchange (CE) process executed initially with acetonitrile (MeCN), methanol (MeOH), or ethanol (EtOH) and subsequently with DCM to achieve the complete activation of OCSs that possess strong extracoordination. Thus, this process can serve as an effective "chemical route" to activation at room temperature that does not require applying heat. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has demonstrated the activation of OCSs using this multiple CE process, although MeOH and/or DCM has been popularly used in pretreatment steps prior to the TA process. Using MOF-74(Ni), we demonstrate that this multiple CE process can safely activate a thermally unstable MOF without inflicting structural damage. Furthermore, on the basis of in situ 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and Raman studies, we propose a plausible mechanism for the activation behavior of multiple CE.
Keywords: chemical activation; dichloromethane treatment; in situ NMR; in situ Raman; metal−organic frameworks; multiple coordination exchange; open-metal sites; room-temperature activation.