Lanthanides (Ln) are a group of important elements that are essential for modern technological applications owing to their unique optical and magnetic properties. However, the presence of lanthanide in nature usually exist in their mixtures and their separation is challenging for chemists due to their subtly different chemical properties. In this contribution, we have discovered that crystallization of homochiral camphorate metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is highly sensitive to ionic radii of lanthanides. In specific, two series of homochiral MOFs were obtained with early lanthanide (Type I with La-Dy) and late lanthanide (Type II with Tb-Lu and Y), respectively and camphorate as the auxiliary ligand. The Ln coordination environment in each type exhibits selectivity for Ln3+ of different ionic radii, which could form the basis for a novel cost-effective method for Ln separation.

Lanthanide separation through size-selective crystallization of homochiral metal-organic frameworks

251st National Meeting (2016)

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