Selectivity

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Distillation

Engineering

Catalysis

Boiling

Copolymer

Petrochemical

Chemistry

Materials science

Styrene

Cumene

Ethylbenzene

Chemical engineering

Polymer

Journal of the American Chemical Society

The separation of styrene (ST) and ethylbenzene (EB) mixtures is of great importance in the petrochemical and plastics industries. Current technology employs multiple cycles of energy-intensive distillation due to the very close boiling points of ST and EB. Here, we show that the molecular sieving properties of easily scalable and stable trianglimine crystals offer ultrahigh selectivity (99%) for styrene separation. The unique molecular sieving properties of trianglimine crystals are corroborated by DFT calculations, suggesting that the incorporation of the nonplanar EB requires a significant deformation of the macrocyclic cavity whereas the planar ST can be easily accommodated in the cavity.

Adsorptive Molecular Sieving of Styrene over Ethylbenzene by Trianglimine Crystals