#hot_papers

Russian Chemists Find a New Way to Remove (and Detect) Benzene Impurities in Cyclohexane

Cyclohexane is a big deal in the chemical industry—produced in massive quantities worldwide. It's made by hydrogenating benzene. And here's the problem: trace amounts of leftover benzene are a headache.

Why? Two reasons:

1️⃣ Benzene can interfere with downstream chemical reactions.
2️⃣ Environmental regulations on benzene are extremely strict.

Many researchers around the world have been working on this. Now, a team from the Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS (Novosibirsk), together with colleagues from China, just published a brilliant solution in JACS—the Journal of the American Chemical Society (IF 15.7), one of the most prestigious chemistry journals in the world.

🔬 The breakthrough:

They synthesized a new metal-organic coordination polymer—yes, the very class of materials that won the Nobel Prize in 2025.

This material has a unique ability: it absorbs even ultra-trace benzene impurities from cyclohexane:

▫️ Starting purity: 99.9%
▫️ After treatment: 99.999% —five nines!

💡 This luminescent complex also works as a highly sensitive sensor for benzene. It detects the very impurity it removes. Two functions in one material. A true combo.

Huge congratulations to the team! This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF).

🔗 Read the paper
🔗 RSF project