Given the stark difference in adsorption behaviour exhibited by the two different solvents, we identify two potential routes for framework collapse during solvent activation, visualised in Figure . In the first, the solvent shows typical gas-like behaviour, desorbing uniformly from the centre of the pore 210 hence evenly distributing any imparted stress across the framework. In this case collapse only occurs if ΔU ‡ act is greater than the thermodynamic stability of the framework. In the second, strong solvent phase cohesion leads to mesophase formation within the MOF pore space at an early stage of desorption. ΔU ‡ act is distributed across the resulting interfaces, concentrating the mechanical stress across a relatively small area thereby lowering the barrier to collapse. 215 While it is clear from Figure that dichloromethane and acetonitrile desorb from MOFs through 220 different mechanisms, the probability density histograms do not directly link these adsorption mechanisms to collapse. To build this link, we calculated the instantaneous interaction energies acting on each atom of the MOF by the surrounding solvent molecules (Figure ). We found that framework interactions were evenly distributed throughout the framework in the case of gas-like dichloromethane (Figure ), indicating even capillary stress. Conversely, interactions with 225 capillary-like acetonitrile were highly location-dependent within the unit cell, signifying that some framework atoms experienced far greater stress than their symmetrically equivalent counterparts (Figure ). This asymmetric capillary stress cannot be explained by preferential adsorption alone (akin to benzene adsorption into the larger pore space only ), as those interactions would remain 230 symmetrically equivalent. Instead, capillary-like sorbates form a single 'droplet' within the pore spaces of the MOF, and growth of the single droplet is thermodynamically favoured over both adsorption on the framework or formation of subsequent droplets. Therefore, while the absolute value of ΔU ‡ act may not be enough to decompose the IRMOF-1 framework, clustering of sorbate molecules into a single droplet will amplify the local capillary stresses placed on the MOF, triggering 235 breakage of metal-linker coordination bonds which then propagates into framework collapse.