Recently, Haomiao Xu’s research group from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University published a research paper entitled “Functionalized Olefin-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks for Selective Mercury Capture and Recovery from Vinyl Chloride-Rich Gas Streams” in Journal of the American Chemical Society. They reported a molecularly programmed COF platform for selective Hg0 removal from VCM-rich, HCl-containing gas streams. Integrating a sp2-carbon-conjugated framework with Hg-philic Cu–O2S2 pockets, COF-778-Cu suppresses nonspecific C2H3Cl adsorption while strongly binding Hg0, achieving high Hg0/C2H3Cl selectivity and prolonged breakthrough times under acidic conditions. Na2S-assisted regeneration restores active sites and converts captured mercury into stable HgS, enabling repeated reuse.
