Highly Efficient Removal of Neonicotinoid Insecticides by Thioether-Based (Multivariate) Metal–Organic Frameworks

[Image: see text] Circumventing the impact of agrochemicals on aquatic environments has become a necessity for health and ecological reasons. Herein, we report the use of a family of five eco-friendly water-stable isoreticular metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), prepared from amino acids, as adsorbents for the removal of neonicotinoid insecticides (thiamethoxam, clothianidin, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, and thiacloprid) from water. Among them, the three MOFs containing thioether-based residues show remarkable removal efficiency. In particular, the novel multivariate MOF {Sr(II)Cu(II)(6)[(S,S)-methox](1.5)[(S,S)-Mecysmox](1.50)(OH)(2)(H(2)O)}·36H(2)O (5), featuring narrow functional channels decorated with both −CH(2)SCH(3) and −CH(2)CH(2)SCH(3) thioalkyl chains—from l-methionine and l-methylcysteine amino acid-derived ligands, respectively—stands out and exhibits the higher removal efficiency, being capable to capture 100% of acetamiprid and thiacloprid in a single capture step under dynamic solid-phase extraction conditions—less than 30 s. Such unusual combination of outstanding efficiency, high stability in environmental conditions, and low-cost straightforward synthesis in 5 places this material among the most attractive adsorbents reported for the removal of this type of contaminants.