Cationic nonporous macrocyclic organic compounds for multimedia iodine capture

Over the past two decades, progress in chemistry has generated various types of porous materials for removing iodine (${}^{129}$I or ${}^{131}$I) that can be formed during nuclear energy generation or nuclear waste storage. However, most studies for iodine capture are based on the weak host‐guest interactions of the porous materials. Here, we present two cationic nonporous macrocyclic organic compounds, namely, MOC‐1 and MOC‐2, in which 6I${}^{-}$ and 8I${}^{-}$ were as counter anions, for highly efficient iodine capture. MOC‐1 and MOC‐2 were formed by reacting 1,1′‐diamino‐4,4′‐bipyridylium di‐iodide with 1,2‐diformylbenzene or 1,3‐diformylbenzene, respectively. The presence of a large number of I${}^{-}$ anions results in high I${}_2$ affinity with uptake capacities up to 2.15 g ⋅ g${}^{-1}$ for MOC‐1 and 2.25 g ⋅ g${}^{-1}$ for MOC‐2. (© 2020 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)