Arene Selectivity by a Flexible Coordination Polymer Host.

Area of Science:

• Coordination Chemistry
• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Coordination polymers are crystalline materials with diverse applications.
• The synthesis of novel coordination polymers with specific guest-binding properties is an active area of research.
• Phenazine and trifluoroacetate are common ligands in coordination chemistry.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize new silver coordination polymers.
• To investigate the guest selectivity of these polymers for various aromatic solvents.
• To explore the templating effect of arene solvents on polymer formation.

Main Methods:

• Solution-phase synthesis of coordination polymers using silver trifluoroacetate and phenazine.
• Crystallographic characterization of the synthesized compounds.
• Guest selectivity determination through pairwise competition experiments.

Main Results:

• Two types of coordination polymers were synthesized: [Ag4(O2CCF3)4(phen)3]⋅phen⋅arene (1⋅phen⋅arene) and [Ag4(O2CCF3)4(phen)2] (2).
• Polymers 1⋅phen⋅arene incorporate specific arene guests (toluene, p-xylene, benzene) when synthesized in those solvents.
• The selectivity order for arene guests was determined as p-xylene > toluene ≈ benzene > o-xylene > m-xylene.
• A maximum selectivity coefficient of 14.2 was observed for p-xylene:m-xylene.

Conclusions:

• The synthesized silver coordination polymers exhibit tunable structures and selective guest inclusion.
• The choice of arene solvent significantly influences the resulting polymer structure and guest incorporation.
• These findings contribute to the design of materials for selective molecular recognition and separation.