Solvent-controlled self-assembly of tetrapodal [4 + 4] phosphate organic molecular cage

Gen-Feng Feng; Jiao Geng; Fan-Da Feng; Wei Huang

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61813-6

Solvent-controlled self-assembly of tetrapodal [4 + 4] phosphate organic molecular cage

Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 13;10(1):4712. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61813-6.

Authors

Gen-Feng Feng¹, Jiao Geng¹, Fan-Da Feng¹, Wei Huang^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210093, P.R. China.
² State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210093, P.R. China. whuang@nju.edu.cn.
³ Shenzhen Research Institute of Nanjing University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518057, P.R. China. whuang@nju.edu.cn.

Abstract

Two flexible subcomponents, namely tris(4-formylphenyl)phosphate and tris(2-aminoethyl)amine, are assembled into a tetrapodal [4 + 4] cage depending on the solvent effect. Single-crystal structure analysis reveals that the caivity is surrounded by four phosphate uints. Good selectivity of CO₂ adsorption over CH₄ is demonstrated by the gas adsorption experiment.