Selective Separation of Phenanthrene from Aromatic Isomer Mixtures by a Water-Soluble Azobenzene-Based Macrocycle

Yuezhou Liu; Hongliang Wang; Liqing Shangguan; Peiren Liu; Bingbing Shi; Xin Hong; Feihe Huang

doi:10.1021/jacs.1c01204

Selective Separation of Phenanthrene from Aromatic Isomer Mixtures by a Water-Soluble Azobenzene-Based Macrocycle

J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Mar 3;143(8):3081-3085. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c01204. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Authors

Yuezhou Liu¹, Hongliang Wang², Liqing Shangguan¹, Peiren Liu¹, Bingbing Shi³, Xin Hong^{2

4}, Feihe Huang^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Center for Chemistry of High-Performance & Novel Materials, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, P. R. China.
² Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
³ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou,730070, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Zheda Road 38, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁵ Green Catalysis Center and College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.

PMID: 33591177
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c01204

Abstract

Selective separation of phenanthrene (PHE) from aromatic isomer mixtures is a big challenge in industry. In this work, a light-responsive water-soluble azobenzene-based macrocycle 1 is synthesized and an aqueous solution of E,E-1 is employed to separate PHE from anthracene via a solid-liquid extraction method under ambient conditions. After five extraction cycles, the average purity for PHE is about 91.1% and macrocycle 1 can be reused at least five times without obvious reduction of separation performance for PHE. This work not only comprises a new and clean way to separate PHE by taking advantage of a macrocyclic host but also promotes the application of host-guest chemistry.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't