# Adsorptive Separation of Chlorobenzene and Chlorocyclohexane by Nonporous Adaptive Crystals of Perethylated Pillar[6]arene

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method using nonporous adaptive crystals to efficiently separate two similar chemicals that are hard to distinguish using traditional methods.

## Contribution

The study presents a novel adsorptive separation method using nonporous adaptive crystals of perethylated pillar[6]arene.

## Key findings

- EtP6α crystals achieved 99.5% purity in separating chlorocyclohexane from a 1:1 vapor mixture.
- The crystals retained performance after being recycled for five cycles.

## Abstract

The separation of chlorobenzene (CB) and chlorocyclohexane (CCH) using traditional industrial separation technologies (distillation, fractionation, and rectification) is a great challenge due to their close boiling points. Here, we report an innovative method for the separation of the mixture of CB and CCH by nonporous adaptive crystals (NACs) of perethylated pillar[6]arene (EtP6). NACs of EtP6 (EtP6α) can selectively adsorb CCH vapor from the vapor mixture of CB and CCH (v:v = 1:1) with a purity of 99.5%. Furthermore, EtP6α can be recycled for five times without a significant loss of performance.