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Updated: Jul 12, 2025

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Hydrogen-Bonding Assembly Meets Anion Coordination Chemistry: Framework Shaping and Polarity Tuning for Xenon/Krypton
Yi Xie1, Xiaojun Ding1, Jianchen Wang1
1Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Hybrid hydrogen-bonded (H-bonded) frameworks built from charged components or metallotectons offer diverse guest-framework interactions for target-specific separations. We present here a study to systematically explore the coordination chemistry of monovalent halide anions, i.e., F- , Cl- , Br- , and I- , with the aim to develop hybrid H-bond synthons that enable the controllable construction of microporous H-bonded frameworks exhibiting fine-tunable surface polarity within the adaptive cavities for realistic xenon/krypton (Xe/Kr) separation. The spherical halide anions, especially Cl- , Br- , and I- , are found to readily participate in the charge-assisted H-bonding assembly with well-defined coordination behaviors, resulting in robust frameworks bearing open halide anions within the distinctive 1D pore channels. The activated frameworks show preferential binding towards Xe (IAST Xe/Kr selectivity ca. 10.5) because of the enhanced polarizability and the pore confinement effect. Specifically, dynamic column Xe/Kr separation with a record-high separation factor (SF=7.0) among H-bonded frameworks was achieved, facilitating an efficient Xe/Kr separation in dilute, CO2 -containing gas streams exactly mimicking the off-gas of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) reprocessing.
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