Selective adsorptive separation of cyclohexane over benzene using thienothiophene cages
Yanjun Ding1, Lukman O Alimi1, Basem Moosa1
1Smart Hybrid Materials (SHMs) Laboratory, Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Thuwal 23955-6900 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia niveen.khashab@kaust.edu.sa.
Abstract:
The selective separation of benzene (Bz) and cyclohexane (Cy) is one of the most challenging chemical separations in the petrochemical and oil industries. In this work, we report an environmentally friendly and energy saving approach to separate Cy over Bz using thienothiophene cages (ThT-cages) with adaptive porosity. Interestingly, cyclohexane was readily captured selectively from an equimolar benzene/cyclohexane mixture with a purity of 94%. This high selectivity arises from the C-H⋯S, C-H⋯π and C-H⋯N interactions between Cy and the thienothiophene ligand. Reversible transformation between the nonporous guest-free structure and the host-guest assembly, endows this system with excellent recyclability with minimal energy requirements.
Related Concept Videos
Reduction of Benzene to Cyclohexane: Catalytic Hydrogenation
Aromatic Hydrocarbon Cations: Structural Overview
Removing one hydrogen from the intervening CH2 group...
Benzene to 1,4-Cyclohexadiene: Birch Reduction Mechanism
Frost Circles for Different Conjugated Systems
Size-Exclusion Chromatography
Silica particles offer advantages such as rigidity,...
¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Variable-Temperature NMR


