Switching the enantioselectivity of nanoporous host materials by light

Chem Commun (Camb). 2019 Jul 23;55(60):8776-8779. doi: 10.1039/c9cc02849h.

Abstract

A chiral photoswitchable nanoporous material with remote-controllable enantioselective adsorption capacity is presented. This metal-organic framework possesses both homochiral d-camphoric acid and light-responsive azobenzene moieties. Although the structure at the chiral moieties is unaffected, the trans-cis-azobenzene-photoisomerization changes the pore environment and, thus, switches the enantioselective adsorption behavior of the homochiral MOF.