Acetylene (C 2 H 2 )c apturei sastep in an umber of industrial processes, but it comes with ah igh-energy footprint. Although physisorbents have the potential to reduce this energy footprint, they are handicappedb y generally poor selectivity versusother relevant gases, such as CO 2 and C 2 H 4 .I nt he case of CO 2 ,t he respective physicochemical properties are so similar that traditional physisorbents, such as zeolites, silica, anda ctivated carbons cannot differentiate well between CO 2 and C 2 H 2 .H erein, we report that af amily of three isostructural, ultramicroporous (< 7 )d iamondoidm etal-organic frameworks, [Cu(TMBP)X] (TMBP = 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl-4,4'-bipyrazole), TCuX (X = Cl, Br,I ), offer new benchmark C 2 H 2 /CO 2 separation selectivity at ambient temperature and pressure.W e attribute this performance to an ew type of strong binding site for C 2 H 2 .S pecifically,h alogen···HC interactions coupledw ith othern oncovalent in at ight binding site is C 2 H 2 specific versus CO 2 .T he binding site is distinct from those found in previous benchmark sorbents, which are based on open metal sites or electrostatic interactionse nabled by inorganic fluoro or oxo anions.That C 2 H 2 poses an immediate fire and explosive hazard at > 2.5 %c oncentrations and features the widest knownf lammability range, [1] 2.5-81 %, underscores the need to develop energy-efficient C 2 H 2 -capture sorbent materials. [2] Further,i ts high reactivity can lead to undesirable chemicalr eactions duringi ndustrial processes, for example, traces of C 2 H 2 can poisonc atalystsb yf orming metal acetylides duringe thylene polymerization, leading to explosions. [3] Removal of C 2 H 2 as a trace contaminant is also important in the productiono fa crylic/vinyl derivatives and acetylenic alcohols. [4] With respect to bulk usage,C 2 H 2 is the most common gas used to fuel cutting torches. C 2 H 2 recovered in high purity can serve as af uel or buildingblock in polymer synthesis for example, polyvinyl chloride, PVC and polyvinylidene fluoride,PVDF. [4] In C 2 H 2 manufacturedb yp artial combustion (oxidative coupling)o fmethane [5] or thermal cracking of hydrocarbons, CO 2 is generated as ab y-product. [6] To enable C 2 H 2 capturef rom C 2 H 2 /CO 2 mixtures, three current methods were employed: 1) bulk extraction by organic solvents, for example, N,N-dimethylformamide, and acetone; [7] b) partial hydrogenation of C 2 H 2 to ethylene, C 2 H 4 using expensive Ag 0 /other noble-metalc atalysts; [8] and c) cryogenic distillation. [9] All three approaches are costly and energy intensive. Althoughp hysisorbentso ffer potentialf or reducing the energyf ootprint of C 2 H 2 capture, zeolites, silica, and activated carbonsc annot effectively separate C 2 H 2 from CO 2[10] because of their similarp hysicochemical properties (size:C 2 H 2 = 3.32 3.34 5.7 3 ;C O 2 = 3.18 3.33 5.36 3 ;k inetic diameter = 3.3 for both;b oilingp oint:C 2 H 2 = 189.3 K, CO 2 = 194.7 K). [11] In this context,a ne merging class of physisorbents, namely, metal-organic m...