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A Cavity-Tailored Metal-Organic Cage Entraps Gases Selectively in Solution and the Amorphous Solid State.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Zhu, Jun-Long 
Wang, Wenjing 

Abstract

Here we report the subcomponent self-assembly of a truxene-faced Zn4 L4 tetrahedron, which is capable of binding the smallest hydrocarbons in solution. By deliberately incorporating inward-facing ethyl groups on the truxene faces, the resulting partially-filled cage cavity was tailored to encapsulate methane, ethane, and ethene via van der Waals interactions at atmospheric pressure in acetonitrile, and also in the amorphous solid state. Interestingly, gas capture showed divergent selectivities in solution and the amorphous solid state. The selective binding may prove useful in designing new processes for the purification of methane and ethane as feedstocks for chemical synthesis.

Description

Keywords

gas adsorption, gas encapsulation, host-guest chemistry, metal-organic cage, supramolecular chemistry

Journal Title

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1433-7851
1521-3773

Volume Title

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
European Research Council (695009)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P027067/1)