Cucurbit[7]uril: an amorphous molecular material for highly selective carbon dioxide uptake.

Cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), in its amorphous solid state, shows one of the highest CO(2) sorption capacities among known organic porous materials at 298 K and 0.1 and 1 bar. In addition to the highest CO(2) capacity, CB[7] also shows remarkable selectivity of CO(2) over N(2) and CH(4). These properties, along with the existence of readily available precursors, indicate amorphous CB[7] might find applications in recycling CO(2) particularly considering the easy synthesis and potentially low manufacturing costs.