This work is focusing on the potential application of metal-organic frameworks as porous materials in heterogeneous catalysis where the substrate is in solution. The understanding of such a liquid-phase heterogeneous catalytic process requires adsorption equilibrium data in solution. For this purpose several metal-organic frameworks were synthesized as reference materials and tested as adsorbents for the adsorption of substrate molecules such as styrene or ethylcinnamate from the liquid phase. The adsorption capacity strongly depends on the polarity of the substrate with respect to the solvent. In several instances solvent and polarity effects are heavily superimposed on the pore size effects. Adsorption isotherms, rates and hydrogenation of the substrates are reported and discussed.