High-efficiency removal of chloramphenicol (CAP) drug from waste water still faces a large challenge up to date. Herein, we report the first metal-organic framework-based adsorbent (PCN-222) for CAP and effective removal was achieved. PCN-222 exhibits a large adsorption capacity of 370 mg g(-1), superior to some other MOFs and various reported adsorbents; and more importantly, the adsorption equilibrium can be quickly obtained at only 58 s. Besides, similar to 99.0% of CAP can be removed from water in the low concentrations (including the concentrations found in real water). Further investigation indicates that H-bond interaction, electrostatic interaction and the special pore structure of PCN-222 all play important effects on the high-efficiency removal of CAP. Therefore, our work may provide a novel perspective for removing CAP or other antibiotic drugs from contaminated water. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.