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.