Polymers made by click chemistry with spirocyclic building blocks form membranes that separate the components of crude oil based on molecular size and type, potentially using far less energy than distillation. Key enablers of this separation are moderate levels of polymer dynamic motion and frustrated chain packing.
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References
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This is a summary of: Bruno, N. C. et al. Solution-processable polytriazoles from spirocyclic monomers for membrane-based hydrocarbon separations. Nat. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01682-2 (2023).
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Click-chemistry polymer membranes for hydrocarbon mixture fractionation. Nat. Mater. 22, 1451–1452 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01684-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01684-0
