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Coordination Cages Selectively Transport Molecular Cargoes Across Liquid Membranes.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Nguyen, Bao-Nguyen T 
Grommet, Angela B 
Howe, Duncan J 

Abstract

Chemical purifications are critical processes across many industries, requiring 10-15% of humanity's global energy budget. Coordination cages are able to catch and release guest molecules based upon their size and shape, providing a new technological basis for achieving chemical separation. Here, we show that aqueous solutions of FeII4L6 and CoII4L4 cages can be used as liquid membranes. Selective transport of complex hydrocarbons across these membranes enabled the separation of target compounds from mixtures under ambient conditions. The kinetics of cage-mediated cargo transport are governed by guest binding affinity. Using sequential transport across two consecutive membranes, target compounds were isolated from a mixture in a size-selective fashion. The selectivities of both cages thus enabled a two-stage separation process to isolate a single compound from a mixture of physicochemically similar molecules.

Description

Keywords

3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry, 34 Chemical Sciences

Journal Title

J Am Chem Soc

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0002-7863
1520-5126

Volume Title

143

Publisher

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
European Research Council (695009)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P027067/1)
EPSRC (EP/T031603/1)
the European Research Council (695009), the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, EP/P027067/1), the Singapore Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A-STAR)