Luminescent covalent organic cages with a C3-symmetric structure for effective enantioseparation

Abstract

In recent years, incredible endeavors have been devoted to the design and self-assembly of discrete covalent organic cages with expanding intricacy and functionality. They have excellent applications in different fields, but their applications in enantioselective separation have not been fully developed. Here, a pair of chiral cages with custom cavities based on the unique rigid structure of 1,10-binaphthol (binol) were selected for effective enantioseparation. Meanwhile chiral resolution tests reveal diverse host–guest stereoselectivity towards different chiral molecules.