A Triphasic Sorting System: Coordination Cages in Ionic Liquids

Host-guest chemistry is usually carried out in either water or organic solvents. To investigate the utility of alternative solvents, three different coordination cages were dissolved in neat ionic liquids. By using F-19 NMR spectroscopy to monitor the presence of free and bound guest molecules, all three cages were demonstrated to be stable and capable of encapsulating guests in ionic solution. Different cages were found to preferentially dissolve in different phases, allowing for the design of a triphasic sorting system. Within this system, three coordination cages, namely Fe4L6 2, Fe8L12 3, and Fe4L4 4, each segregated into a distinct layer. Upon the addition of a mixture of three different guests, each cage (in each separate layer) selectively bound its preferred guest.