<p><b>Chemical purifications are critical processes across many industries, requiring 10 - 15% of humanity’s global energy budget</b><sup>1,2</sup><b>. Coordination cages are able to catch and release guest molecules based upon their size and shape</b><sup>3,4</sup><b>, providing a new technological basis for achieving chemical separation. Here we show that aqueous solutions of Fe<sup>II</sup><sub>4</sub>L<sub>6</sub> and Co<sup>II</sup><sub>4</sub>L<sub>4</sub> cages can be used as liquid membranes. Selective transport of complex hydrocarbons across these membranes enabled the separation of target compounds from mixtures under ambient conditions. The kinetics of cage-mediated cargo transport are governed by guest binding affinity. Using sequential transport across two consecutive membranes, target compounds were isolated from a mixture in a size-selective fashion. The selectivities of both cages thus enabled a two-stage separation process to isolate a single compound from a mixture of physicochemically similar molecules.</b></p>
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