Jiong Zhou, Guocan Yu, Qing Li
Jan 22, 2020
Citations
0
Influential Citations
50
Citations
Journal
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Abstract
The separation of benzene and cyclohexane is one of the most challenging tasks in the petrochemical field. However, conventional separation methods are subjected to cumbersome operation, huge energy expenditure or use of entrainers. Herein, we develop an environmentally-friendly and energy saving adsorptive separation strategy using nonporous adaptive crystals of hybrid[3]arene (1). Adaptive 1 crystals separate benzene from a benzene/cyclohexane equimolar mixture with purity of 97.5%. The selectivity comes from the stability and variability of the new crystal structure upon capture of the preferred guest. Moreover, the reversible transformations between the nonporous guest-free structure and the guest-containing structure make 1 highly recyclable.