Fluorous Nanodroplets Structurally Confined in an Organopalladium Sphere
Sota Sato,1
Junya Iida,1
Kosuke Suzuki,1
Masaki Kawano,1
Tomoji Ozeki,2
Makoto Fujita1*
The distinct properties of fluorous phases are practically useful
for separation, purification, and reaction control in organic
synthesis. Here, we report the formation of a liquid-like fluorous
droplet, composed of 24 perfluoroalkyl chains confined in the
interior of a 5-nanometer-sized, roughly spherical shell that
spontaneously assembled in solution from 12 palladium ions and
24 bridging ligands. Crystallographic analysis confirmed the
rigid shell framework and amorphous interior. Perfluoroalkanes
can dissolve in this well-defined fluorous phase, whereas they
can hardly dissolve in a surrounding polar organic solution,
and their solubility (up to
eight perfluoroalkane molecules
per spherical complex) can be finely controlled by tuning the
length of perfluoroalkyl chains tethered to the shell.
2 Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mfujita{at}appchem.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
