Thermally Programmable Gas Storage and Release in Single Crystals of an Organic van der Waals Host

A single crystal of a low density form of guest-free p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene can take up and release small guest molecules by controlling the temperature and pressure without changing the structure. Using NMR spectroscopy with flowing hyperpolarized xenon, we have shown that at room temperature access of xenon to the pore system is difficult, whereas it is relatively easy at 100 °C. There are good prospects for simple van der Waals materials such as the title material to be used as programmable zeolite mimics.

无客体对叔丁基杯[4]芳烃（p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene）的低密度晶型单晶，可通过调控温度与压力实现小分子客体的吸附与脱附，且自身晶体结构不会发生改变。本研究采用搭载流动态超极化氙气的核磁共振波谱法进行表征，结果表明：室温下氙气难以进入该材料的孔道体系，而在100 ℃时则相对容易。诸如本文研究对象这类简单范德华材料，具备作为可编程类沸石模拟材料的良好应用前景。