Ultrathin Chiral Metal-Organic-Framework Nanosheets for Efficient Enantioselective Separation

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Jun 4;57(23):6873-6877. doi: 10.1002/anie.201803125. Epub 2018 May 3.

Abstract

Chiral metal-organic framework (CMOF) nanosheets only a few layers thick remain a virgin land waiting for exploration. Herein, the first examples of ultrathin CMOF nanosheets are prepared by the confinement growth of two-dimensional (2D) chiral layers, which are assembled by helical metal-organic chains within microemulsion. This convenient and easily scaled up inverse microemulsion method gives a series of 2D CMOF nanosheets composed of variable metal nodes or chiral ligands. More significantly, thanks to the exceptionally large number of chiral sites exposed on surfaces, the as-obtained CMOF nanosheets exhibit much higher enantioselectivity in chiral separation compared with their bulk counterparts.

Keywords: chirality; enantioseparation; metal-organic frameworks; nanosheets.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't