1.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
; 60(21): 11830-11834, 2021 May 17.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33733567
ABSTRACT
The purification step in the manufacturing of cyclic polymers is difficult as complete fractionation to eliminate linear impurities requires considerable effort. Here, we report a new polymer separation methodology that uses metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to discriminate between linear and cyclic polyethylene glycols (PEGs) via selective polymer insertion into the MOF nanopores. Preparation of a MOF-packed column allowed analytical and preparative chromatographic separation of these topologically distinct pairs. In addition, gram-scale PEGs with only cyclic structures were successfully obtained from a crude reaction mixture by using MOF as an adsorbent.