Selective nitrogen adsorption via backbonding in a metal–organic framework with exposed vanadium sites

Industrial processes prominently feature π-acidic gases, and an adsorbent capable of selectively interacting with these molecules could enable important chemical separations1–4. Biological systems use accessible, reducing metal centres to bind and activate weakly π-acidic species, such as N2, through backbonding interactions5–7, and incorporating analogous moieties into a porous material should give rise to a similar adsorption mechanism for...