A novel thymine-functionalized MIL-101 (MIL-101-Thymine) was first synthesized by post-synthesis method.
The resulting MIL-101-Thymine exhibited high Hg2+ adsorption.
MIL-101-Thymine exhibited excellent selectivity towards Hg2+ over other metal ions.
MIL-101-Thymine was used to remove trace Hg2+ with satisfactory recoveries in real water samples.