A Noncovalent π-Stacked Dual-Pore Molecular Crystal for Ethanol/Water and Benzene/Methanol Azeotrope Separation

Xiang Meng, Shuixiang Zou, Jiawei Li, Cheng Chen*, Jie Zhang, Mingyan Wu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Separation of ethanol/water or benzene/methanol azeotrope mixtures presents significant challenges, not only due to the limitations of conventional distillation techniques but also because of the constraints in developing and utilizing of new generation adsorbents. Porous organic molecular frameworks constructed via noncovalent π-interactions are emerging as novel adsorbents with vast potential in gas adsorption and molecular separation. Herein, we report a permanent two-dimensional porous structure, namely TDTBA-1, which consists of two different kinds of pores through π-stacking of a single organic molecule with highly Td symmetry. Activated TDTBA-1 exhibits excellent hydrophobicity, thermal stability, recoverability and high selectivity for ethanol over water, and benzene over methanol. Therefore, activated TDTBA-1 can be used as an efficient stationary phase for the separation of ethanol/water and benzene/methanol azeotropes by high-resolution gas chromatography.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202415346
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume64
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jan 2025

Keywords

  • Azeotrope Separation
  • Dual-Pore Molecular Crystal
  • Noncovalent π-interaction
  • Selective Adsorbent

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