Separation of rare gases and chiral molecules by selective binding in porous organic cages
Separation of rare gases and chiral molecules by selective binding in porous organic cages
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DOI：
10.1038/nmat4035
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发表时间：
2014-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
41.2
通讯作者：
Cooper, Andrew I.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chen, Linjiang;Reiss, Paul S.;Cooper, Andrew I.
分离具有相似尺寸和形状的分子是一项重要的技术挑战。例如，稀有气体可以带来经济机会或环境危害，并且需要在空气中以低浓度选择性地分离这些球形分子。同样，手性分子是药物的重要组成部分，但根据定义，手性对映异构体具有相同的大小和形状，并且它们的分离可能具有挑战性。在这里，我们表明，一个多孔的有机笼分子具有前所未有的性能，在固态的稀有气体，如氪和氙的分离。的选择性产生于稀有气体和有机笼腔之间的精确尺寸匹配，如分子模拟预测。突破性的实验证明了从空气中分离浓度仅为百万分之几的氪、氙和氡的真实的实用潜力。我们还证明了手性有机分子，如1-苯基乙醇的选择性结合，这表明在对映选择性分离的应用。
The separation of molecules with similar size and shape is an important technological challenge. For example, rare gases can pose either an economic opportunity or an environmental hazard and there is a need to separate these spherical molecules selectively at low concentrations in air. Likewise, chiral molecules are important building blocks for pharmaceuticals, but chiral enantiomers, by definition, have identical size and shape, and their separation can be challenging. Here we show that a porous organic cage molecule has unprecedented performance in the solid state for the separation of rare gases, such as krypton and xenon. The selectivity arises from a precise size match between the rare gas and the organic cage cavity, as predicted by molecular simulations. Breakthrough experiments demonstrate real practical potential for the separation of krypton, xenon and radon from air at concentrations of only a few parts per million. We also demonstrate selective binding of chiral organic molecules such as 1-phenylethanol, suggesting applications in enantioselective separation.