Enantioselective separation under humid conditions by chiral Hofmann clathrates: new opportunities for vintage materials

Abstract

Chiral separation is of critical importance in many areas spanning from pharmaceutics and agriculture to catalysis. Coordination polymers and metal–organic frameworks have been envisaged for such a purpose. In this study, the post-synthetic functionalization of the two-dimensional Hofmann clathrate [Ni(H₂O)₂][Ni(CN)₄] with enantiopure phenylethylamines yielding hydrostable chiral clathrates is reported. In the case of (R) and (S) butan-2-ol, we demonstrate that the obtained coordination frameworks exhibit clear enantioselective properties, which can be used for the separation of enantiomers under humid conditions.