HKUST-1 (Scheme 1), first reported in 1999 by Chui et al., is one of the most widely studied MOFs due to its high surface area, large pore volume, and relative ease of synthesis and handling. Its structure, depicted in Figure , consists of inorganic copper "paddlewheel" clusters linked by the organic ligand btc (Figure ). It is conventionally synthesized by heating a mixture of DMF, ethanol, water, Cu(NO3)2, H3btc, and a small amount of concentrated HCl (which improves the quality of the material) at 85 °C under autogenous pressure for approximately 16-20 h. Given the toxicity of DMF, the corrosive nature of concentrated HCl, and the time required by this synthetic method, we developed an approach more conducive for high school and early undergraduate classrooms. In our process, Cu(OH)2 is mixed with the linker (H3btc) in a mixture of water and ethanol for ~10 minutes at room temperature and atmospheric pressure (see the Supporting Information). The resulting blue precipitate (Figure ) can be rinsed with ethanol and dried for 45 minutes in a drying oven at held at 85 °C, after which it is ready for subsequent adsorption experiments. Consistent with previous reports, a color change from light blue to deep blue occurs upon drying. Scheme 1. Synthesis of HKUST-1 described in this work.