Construction of a Chiral Coordination Polymer with Amphiphilic Cavities for Enantioseparation of β-Nitroalcohols

Abstract

While the enantiomeric separation of β-nitroalcohols from racemic mixtures is paramount to the manufacture of enantiopure pharmaceuticals, developing chiral separation materials that resolve these compounds with both high enantioselectivity and broad substrate scope remains a massive challenge. Herein, we report a homochiral porous coordination polymer, S-1, constructed from a C2-symmetric phenylalanine-derived ligand with a well-balanced combination of flexibility and rigidity. Assembled with tetrameric Cu4 clusters, S-1 features open channels of 8 Å × 14 Å, in which a confined amphiphilic chiral cavity decorated with peptide functional groups is periodically distributed. When utilized as a chiral adsorbent, this porous material is capable of resolving a series of pharmacologically important aromatic β-nitroalcohols with enantioselectivity up to 99.8%. Furthermore, the chiral adsorbent can be easily recovered and reused for five cycles without any apparent loss of enantioselectivity, demonstrating excellent recyclability. This work not only provides a reliable strategy for constructing amino acid–based porous coordination polymers but also offers a promising platform for targeted β-nitroalcohol resolution.