Linear Positional Isomer Sorting in Nonporous Adaptive Crystals of a Pillar[5]arene

Here we show a new adsorptive separation
approach using nonporous
adaptive crystals of a pillar[5]­arene. Desolvated perethylated pillar[5]­arene
crystals (EtP5α) with a nonporous character selectively
adsorb 1-pentene (1-Pe) over its positional isomer 2-pentene
(2-Pe), leading to a structural change from EtP5α to 1-Pe loaded structure (1-Pe@EtP5). The purity of 1-Pe reaches 98.7% in just
one cycle and EtP5α can be reused without losing
separation performance.