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From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Noncovalent interaction guided selectivity of haloaromatic isomers in a flexible porous coordination polymer
Rohan Jena1, Subhajit Laha1, Nimish Dwarkanath1
1Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit (CPMU), School of Advanced Materials (SAMat) Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) Jakkur Bangalore-560064 India tmaji@jncasr.ac.in.
Abstract:
Porous, supramolecular structures exhibit preferential encapsulation of guest molecules, primarily by means of differences in the order of (noncovalent) interactions. The encapsulation preferences can be for geometry (dimension and shape) and the chemical nature of the guest. While geometry-based sorting is relatively straightforward using advanced porous materials, designing a "chemical nature" specific host is not. To introduce "chemical specificity", the host must retain an accessible and complementary recognition site. In the case of a supramolecular, porous coordination polymer (PCP) [Zn(o-phen)(ndc)] (o-phen: 1,10-phenanthroline, ndc: 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylate) host, equipped with an adaptable recognition pocket, we have discovered that the preferential encapsulation of a haloaromatic isomer is not only for dimension and shape, but also for the "chemical nature" of the guest. This selectivity, i.e., preference for the dimension, shape and chemical nature, is not guided by any complementary recognition site, which is commonly required for "chemical specificity". Insights from crystal structures and computational studies unveil that the differences in the different types of noncovalent host-guest interaction strengths, acting in a concerted fashion, yield the unique selectivity.
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