The separation and purification of particularly neutral compounds with similar physical and chemical properties remains challenging. Here, the authors introduce a water-soluble macrocyclic calixarene compound as nonporous adaptive crystalline material to separate valeraldehyde from the mixture of valeraldehyde/2-methylbutanal/pentanol with high selectivity and recyclability in the solid state.
- Sha Bai
- Lu-Wen Zhang
- Ying-Feng Han