近日，复旦大学Guo-Xin Jin团队取得一项新突破。他们开发了一种碳硼烷骨架的金属环状化合物，可用于正戊烷的高选择性捕获。该研究于2022年11月28日发表于国际一流学术期刊《美国化学会杂志》上。

在该文中，团队设计了矩形碳硼烷基金属环，借助该材料可以以更简单和更节能的方式选择性地封装正戊烷、异戊烷和环戊烷混合物中的正戊烷。含1,2-二(4-吡啶基)乙烯的金属环1可选择性地从这些三组分混合物中分离正戊烷，纯度可达97%。这种选择性归因于具有匹配尺寸的首选客体的捕获、C-H··π相互作用和潜在的B-H^δ-···H^δ+-C相互作用。

此外，去除正戊烷后，原始的无客体碳硼基金属环可以再生，并在不损失性能的情况下循环使用。考虑到取代碳硼烷衍生物、金属离子和有机连接子的多样性，这些新的碳硼烷基超分子配位复合物（SCCs）可能广泛适用于其他具有良好性能的识别和分离系统。

据介绍，分子结构相近、沸点相近的烷烃的特异性识别与分离是重要的工业需求，也面临重大的科学挑战。

附：英文原文

Title: Synthesis of Carborane-Backbone Metallacycles for Highly Selective Capture of n-Pentane

Author: Shu-Ting Guo, Peng-Fei Cui, Xin-Ran Liu, Guo-Xin Jin

Issue&Volume: November 28, 2022

Abstract: The specific recognition and separation of alkanes with similar molecular structures and close boiling points face significant scientific challenges and industrial demands. Here, rectangular carborane-based metallacycles were designed to selectively encapsulate n-pentane from n-pentane, iso-pentane, and cyclo-pentane mixtures in a simple-to-operate and more energy-efficient way. Metallacycle 1, bearing 1,2-di(4-pyridyl) ethylene, can selectively separate n-pentane from these three-component mixtures with a purity of 97%. The selectivity is ascribed to the capture of the preferred guest with matching size, C–H···π interactions, and potential B–Hδ···Hδ+–C interactions. Besides, the removal of n-pentane gives rise to original guest-free carborane-based metallacycles, which can be recycled without losing performance. Considering the variety of substituted carborane derivatives, metal ions, and organic linkers, these new carborane-based supramolecular coordination complexes (SCCs) may be broadly applicable to other challenging recognition and separation systems with good performance.

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c10201

Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.2c10201