Breaking the methanol/dimethyl carbonate azeotrope using a metal–organic framework with tetrahedral potassium-ion cluster gates
Xiao-Ming Chen
Nature Chemistry, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41557-026-02128-3 Porous materials offer new opportunities to break azeotropes, enabling energy-efficient separations that are otherwise challenging with conventional distillation methods. Now an ionic metal‒organic framework featuring potassium-ion cluster gates has enabled the separation of methanol and dimethyl carbonate, delivering the latter in battery-grade purity.