A high-performance “sweeper” for toxic cationic herbicides: an anionic metal–organic framework with a tetrapodal cage

This communication reports a novel metal-organic framework exhibiting an excellent performance in adsorbing small toxic cationic herbicides, i.e. methyl viologen and diquat, with large adsorption capacities and ultratrace residue levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of high-performance MOFs trapping toxic cationic herbicides.