Head-to-tail assembled borphyrins for solid-state lithium extraction
Abstract
Lithium is a critical mineral for advancing greener technologies. Extraction of lithium ions (Li⁺) from sea salt, minerals, and waste is important, but has been hindered by the lack of extraction methods that offer both high selectivity and strong lithium affinity. Here, we report a dioxaborole-linked, head-to-tail assembled macrocycle – termed borphyrin – featuring a rigid cavity with a 16-crown-4-like configuration. This molecule exhibits strong affinity for lithium and high selectivity over competing cations under dry solid-liquid extraction conditions, owing to its narrow binding cavity and planar macrocyclic core. Borphyrin enabled the extraction of lithium from crystalline solids of ether-insoluble salts, as well as selective extraction of Li⁺ from dried mixed-salt matrices containing alkali, alkaline earth and transition-metal salts. These results establish borphyrin as a potential molecular platform for selective lithium recognition and solid-liquid lithium extraction.
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BibTeX
@article{hamzehpoor2026headtotail,
title = {{Head-to-tail assembled borphyrins for solid-state lithium extraction}},
author = {Ehsan Hamzehpoor and Seiya Ota and Suprio Chowdhury and Zongzhe Li and Ashley Yeung and Rhianna A. Parcon and Raksha Kandel and Brian O. Patrick and Mark J. MacLachlan},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78080-0},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78080-0},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Head-to-tail assembled borphyrins for solid-state lithium extraction
AU - Ehsan Hamzehpoor
AU - Seiya Ota
AU - Suprio Chowdhury
AU - Zongzhe Li
AU - Ashley Yeung
AU - Rhianna A. Parcon
AU - Raksha Kandel
AU - Brian O. Patrick
AU - Mark J. MacLachlan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78080-0
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78080-0
AB - Lithium is a critical mineral for advancing greener technologies. Extraction of lithium ions (Li⁺) from sea salt, minerals, and waste is important, but has been hindered by the lack of extraction methods that offer both high selectivity and strong lithium affinity. Here, we report a dioxaborole-linked, head-to-tail assembled macrocycle – termed borphyrin – featuring a rigid cavity with a 16-crown-4-like configuration. This molecule exhibits strong affinity for lithium and high selectivity over competing cations under dry solid-liquid extraction conditions, owing to its narrow binding cavity and planar macrocyclic core. Borphyrin enabled the extraction of lithium from crystalline solids of ether-insoluble salts, as well as selective extraction of Li⁺ from dried mixed-salt matrices containing alkali, alkaline earth and transition-metal salts. These results establish borphyrin as a potential molecular platform for selective lithium recognition and solid-liquid lithium extraction.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -