Synthesis and Gas Adsorption Properties of Tetra‐Armed Microporous Organic Polymer Networks Based on Triphenylamine

Two novel tetra‐armed microporous organic polymers have been designed and synthesized via a nickel‐catalyzed Yamamoto‐type Ullmann cross‐coupling reaction or Suzuki cross‐coupling polycondensation. These polymers are stable in various solvents, including concentrated hydrochloric acid, and are thermally stable. The homocoupled polymer YPTPA shows much higher Brunauer–Emmet–Teller‐specific surface area up to 1557 m² g⁻¹ than the copolymer SPTPA (544 m² g⁻¹), and a high CO₂ uptake ability of 3.03 mmol g⁻¹ (1.13 bar/273 K) with a CO₂/N₂ sorption selectivity of 17.3:1. Both polymers show high isosteric heats of CO₂ adsorption (22.7–26.5 kJ mol⁻¹) because the incorporation of nitrogen atoms into the skeleton of microporous organic polymers enhances the interaction between the pore wall and the CO₂ molecules. The values are higher than those of the porous aromatic frameworks, which contain neither additional polar functional groups nor nitrogen atoms, and are rather close to those of previously reported microporous organic polymers containing the nitrogen atoms on the pore wall. These data show that these materials would be potential candidates for applications in post‐combustion CO₂ capture and sequestration technology.

     

A Three-Dimensional Porous Organic Semiconductor Based on Fully sp2-Hybridized Graphitic Polymer

Dimensionality plays an important role in the charge transport properties of organic semiconductors. Although three-dimensional semiconductors, such as Si, are common in inorganic materials, imparting electrical conductivity to covalent three-dimensional organic polymers is challenging. Now, the synthesis of a three-dimensional π-conjugated porous organic polymer (3D p-POP) using catalyst-free Diels–Alder cycloaddition polymerization followed by acid-promoted aromatization is presented. With a surface area of 801 m² g⁻¹, full conjugation throughout the carbon backbone, and an electrical conductivity of 6(2)×10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ upon treatment with I₂ vapor, the 3D p-POP is the first member of a new class of permanently porous 3D organic semiconductors.     

A Carbocationic Triarylmethane-Based Porous Covalent Organic Network

A thermally stable carbocationic covalent organic network (CON), named RIO-70 was prepared from pararosaniline hydrochloride, an inexpensive dye, and triformylphloroglucinol in solvothermal conditions. This nanoporous organic material has shown a specific surface area of 990 m² g⁻¹ and pore size of 10.3 Å. The material has CO₂ uptake of 2.14 mmol g⁻¹ (0.5 bar), 2.7 mmol g⁻¹ (1 bar), and 6.8 mmol g⁻¹ (20 bar), the latter corresponding to 3 CO₂ molecules adsorbed per pore per sheet. It is shown to be a semiconductor, with electrical conductivity (σ) of 3.17×10⁻⁷ S cm⁻¹, which increases to 5.26×10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ upon exposure to I₂ vapor. DFT calculations using periodic conditions support the findings.     

Intermediate Formation of Macrocycles for Efficient Crystallization of 2D Covalent Organic Frameworks with Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have gained significant attention as key photocatalysts for efficient solar light conversion into hydrogen production. Unfortunately, the harsh synthetic conditions and intricate growth process required to obtain highly crystalline COFs greatly hinder their practical application. Herein, we report a simple strategy for the efficient crystallization of 2D COFs based on the intermediate formation of hexagonal macrocycles. Mechanistic investigation suggests that the use of 2,4,6-triformyl resorcinol (TFR) as the asymmetrical aldehyde build block allows the equilibration between irreversible enol-to-keto tautomerization and dynamic imine bonds to produce the hexagonal β-ketoenamine-linked macrocycles, the formation of which could provide COFs with high crystallinity in half hour. We show that COF-935 with 3 wt % Pt as cocatalyst exhibit a high hydrogen evolution rate of 67.55 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ for water splitting when exposed to visible light. More importantly, COF-935 exhibits an average hydrogen evolution rate of 19.80 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ even at a low loading of only 0.1 wt % Pt, which is a significant breakthrough in this field. This strategy would provide valuable insights into the design of highly crystalline COFs as efficient organic semiconductor photocatalysts.     

Facile Synthesis of Ultrastable Porous Aromatic Frameworks by Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling Reaction for Adsorption Removal of Organic Dyes

Porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) with robust structure, high stability, and high surface area have attracted intense interest from scientists in diverse fields. However, there are still very few reports on the adsorption of organic dyes by PAFs. In this work, four new PAFs have been facilely synthesized by the polymerization of a tetrahedral-shaped (four-node) monomer with a series of three-node monomers through Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions. All the obtained materials possess hierarchical porous structures and show high thermal and chemical stability. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas of these PAFs were determined to be 857 m² g⁻¹ for PAF-111 , 526 m² g⁻¹ for PAF-112A , 725 m² g⁻¹ for PAF-112B , and 598 m² g⁻¹ for PAF-113 . Rhodamine B was selected as a model organic dye to test the adsorption capacities of the obtained PAF materials. PAF-111 showed a maximum adsorption capacity of 1666 mg g⁻¹ (167 wt %) for Rhodamine B, which is among the highest values reported to date for porous organic materials. It is noteworthy that PAF-111 could be reused in at least ten cycles under the adsorption conditions without any loss of adsorption capacity. Our study has revealed the great potential and advantages of PAFs as ultrastable adsorption materials for the removal of organic dyes.     

Synthesis and Characterization of New Phosphorus Containing Sulfonated Polytriazoles for Proton Exchange Membrane Application

Sulfonated polytriazoles have drawn a great attention as high performance polymers and their good film forming ability. In the present study, a phosphorus containing new diazide monomer namely, bis-[4-(4′-aminophenoxy)phenyl]phenylphosphine was synthesized and accordingly, a series of phosphorus containing sulfonated polytriazoles (PTPBSH-XX) was synthesized by reacting equimolar amount of this diazide monomer (PAZ) in combination with another sulfonated diazide monomer (DSAZ) and a terminal bis-alkyne (BPALK) by the Cu (I) catalyzed azide–alkyne click polymerization. The polymers were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic techniques. The sulfonic acid content of the copolymers also determined from the different integral values obtained from the ¹H NMR signals. The small-angle X-ray scattering results unfolded the well-separated dispersion of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains of the polymers. As a whole, the copolymer membranes displayed sufficient thermal, mechanical, and oxidative stabilities high with high proton conductivity and low water uptake that are essential for proton exchange membrane applications. The copolymers exhibited oxidative stability in the range of 15–24 h and had proton conductivity values were found as high as 38–110 mS cm⁻¹ at 80 °C in completely hydrated condition. Among the all copolytriazoles, PTPBSH-90 (BPALK:DSAZ:PAZ = 100:90:10) having IEC_W = 2.44 mequiv g⁻¹, showed proton conductivity as high as 119 mS cm⁻¹ at 90 °C with an activation energy of 10.40 kJ mol⁻¹ for the proton conduction. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 58, 263–279     

Topotactic Synthesis of Phosphabenzene‐Functionalized Porous Organic Polymers: Efficient Ligands in CO2 Conversion

Progress toward the preparation of porous organic polymers (POPs) with task‐specific functionalities has been exceedingly slow—especially where polymers containing low‐oxidation phosphorus in the structure are concerned. A two‐step topotactic pathway for the preparation of phosphabenzene‐based POPs (Phos‐POPs) under metal‐free conditions is reported, without the use of unstable phosphorus‐based monomers. The synthetic route allows additional functionalities to be introduced into the porous polymer framework with ease. As an example, partially fluorinated Phos‐POPs (F‐Phos‐POPs) were obtained with a surface area of up to 591 m² g^?1. After coordination with Ru species, a Ru/F‐Phos‐POPs catalyst exhibited high catalytic efficiency in the formylation of amines (turnover frequency up to 204 h^?1) using a CO₂/H₂ mixture, in comparison with the non‐fluorinated analogue (43 h^?1) and a Au/TiO₂ heterogeneous catalysts reported previously (<44 h^?1). This work describes a practical method for synthesis of porous organic phosphorus‐based polymers with applications in transition‐metal‐based heterogeneous catalysis.     

Eutectic Molten Salt Synthesis of Highly Microporous Macrocyclic Porous Organic Polymers for CO2 Capture

The development of porous materials is of great interest for the capture of CO₂ from various emission sources, which is essential to mitigate its detrimental environmental impact. In this direction, porous organic polymers (POPs) have emerged as prime candidates owing to their structural tunability, physiochemical stability and high surface areas. In an effort to transfer an intrinsic property of a cyclotetrabenzoin-derived macrocycle – its high CO₂ affinity – into porous networks, herein we report the synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) macrocycle-based POPs through the polycondensation of an octaketone macrocycle with phenazine-2,3,7,8-tetraamine hydrochloride. This polycondensation was performed under ionothermal conditions, using a eutectic salt mixture in the temperature range of 200 to 300 °C. The resulting polymers, named 3D-mmPOPs, showed reaction temperature-dependent surface areas and gas uptake properties. 3D-mmPOP-250 synthesized at 250 °C exhibited a surface area of 752 m² g⁻¹ and high microporosity originating from the macrocyclic units, thus resulting in an excellent CO₂ binding enthalpy of 40.6 kJ mol⁻¹ and CO₂ uptake capacity of 3.51 mmol g⁻¹ at 273 K, 1.1 bar.     

Molecular Expansion for Constructing Porous Organic Polymers with High Surface Areas and Well-Defined Nanopores

Construction of porous organic polymers (POPs) with high surface areas, well-defined nanopores, and excellent stability remains extremely challenging because of the unmanageable reaction process. Until now, only a few reported POPs have Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas (S_BET) exceeding 3000 m² g⁻¹. Herein, we demonstrate a molecular expansion strategy to integrate high surface areas, large nanopore sizes, and outstanding stability into POPs. A series of hyper-crosslinked conjugated polymers ( HCCPs ) with exceptional porosity are synthesized through this strategy. Specially, HCCP-6 and HCCP-11 exhibit the highest surface areas (S_BET >3000 m² g⁻¹) and excellent total pore volumes (up to 3.98 cm³ g⁻¹) among these HCCPs . They present decent total CH₄ storage capacities of 491 and 421 mg g⁻¹ at 80 bar and 298 K, respectively. Meanwhile, they are highly stable in harsh environments. The facile and general molecular expansion strategy would lead to improved synthetic routes of POPs for desired functions.     

Boron‐Functionalized Graphene Oxide‐Organic Frameworks for Highly Efficient CO2 Capture

The capture and storage of CO₂ have been suggested as an effective strategy to reduce the global emissions of greenhouse gases. Hence, in recent years, many studies have been carried out to develop highly efficient materials for capturing CO₂. Until today, different types of porous materials, such as zeolites, porous carbons, N/B‐doped porous carbons or metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs), have been studied for CO₂ capture. Herein, the CO₂ capture performance of new hybrid materials, graphene‐organic frameworks (GOFs) is described. The GOFs were synthesized under mild conditions through a solvothermal process using graphene oxide (GO) as a starting material and benzene 1,4‐diboronic acid as an organic linker. Interestingly, the obtained GOF shows a high surface area (506 m² g⁻¹) which is around 11 times higher than that of GO (46 m² g⁻¹), indicating that the organic modification on the GO surface is an effective way of preparing a porous structure using GO. Our synthetic approach is quite simple, facile, and fast, compared with many other approaches reported previously. The synthesized GOF exhibits a very large CO₂ capacity of 4.95 mmol g⁻¹ at 298 K (1 bar), which is higher those of other porous materials or carbon‐based materials, along with an excellent CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 48.8.     

N-Doped Porous Carbon Derived from Solvent-Free Synthesis of Cross-Linked Triazine Polymers for Simultaneously Achieving CO2 Capture and Supercapacitors

It is highly desirable to design advanced heteroatomic doped porous carbon for wide application. Herein, N-doped porous carbon (NPC) was developed via the fabrication of high nitrogen cross-linked triazine polymers followed by pyrolysis and activation with controllable porous structure. The as-synthesized NPC at the pyrolysis temperature of 700 °C possessed rich nitrogen content (up to 11.51 %) and high specific surface area (1353 m² g⁻¹), which led to a high CO₂ adsorption capability at 5.67 mmol g⁻¹ at 298.15 K and 5 bar pressure and excellent stability. When the activation temperature was at 600 °C, such NPC exhibited a superior electrochemical performance as anode for supercapacitors with a specific capacitance of 158.8 and 113 F g⁻¹ in 6 M KOH at a current density of 1 and 10 A g⁻¹, respectively. Notably, it delivered an excellent stability with capacity retention of 97.4 % at 20 A g⁻¹after 6000 cycles.     

Polymeric catalyst with polymerization-enhanced Lewis acidity for CO2-based copolymers

Ring-opening copolymerization of CO₂ and epoxides is a promising way to manufacture high value-added materials. Despite a variety of catalyst systems have been reported, the reaction is still limited by low activity and polymer selectivity. Herein, a strategy of polymerization-enhanced Lewis acidity is reported to construct a series of highly efficient polymeric aluminum porphyrin catalysts (PAPCs). The characterization of the coordination equilibrium constant (K_eq) showed significantly enhanced Lewis acidity of PAPC (K_eq = 18.2 L/mol) compared to the monomeric counterpart (K_eq = 6.4 L/mol), accompanied with increased turnover frequency (TOF) from 136 h⁻¹ to 5500 h⁻¹. Through detailed regulation of Lewis acidity, the highly Lewis acidic PAPC-OTs displayed a record high TOF of 30,200 h⁻¹ with polymer selectivity of up to 99%.     

A Pyridinium-Pyridinium Zinc(II) Porphyrin Ion Porous Organic Polymer as Efficient Heterogeneous Catalyst for Cycloaddition of Epoxides with CO2

A zinc(II)porphyrin-based ion porous organic polymer (ZnTPyPBr₄-iPOP) is successfully synthesized from newly designed pyridinium-functionalized cationic Zn-porphyrin monomer (ZnTPyPBr₄) by free radical self-polymerization, and is employed as an efficient bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst for CO₂ cycloaddition reaction with epoxides. The ZnTPyPBr₄-iPOP exhibits excellent catalytic performance and good substrate expansion in CO₂ cycloaddition reaction under solvent-free and cocatalyst-free conditions with a TOF as high as 15,500 h⁻¹ for the cycloaddition of CO₂ and epichlorohydrin. The synergistic effect of zinc(II)porphyrin as the Lewis acidic site and the Br⁻ anion as the nucleophile in ZnTPyPBr₄-iPOP responds to the high catalytic activity. Moreover, ZnTPyPBr₄-iPOP can easily be recovered and reused at least seven times without the loss of activity. This work provides a valuable approach for the synthesis of novel and efficient heterogeneous catalyst for CO₂ cycloaddition.     

Hybrid porous polymers based on double-decker and cage-ype silsesquioxanes for the high-efficiency removal of neonicotinoid insecticides and dyes

Different ratios of octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS) reacted with phenyl-substituted double-decker silsesquioxane (Ph-DDSQ) via the simple Friedel-Crafts reaction provides several innovative silsesquioxane-based porous polymers (PCS-ODs). The hybrid polymers show adjustable porosity (specific surface areas of 1235 m² g⁻¹ and large pore volumes >1.07 cm³ g⁻¹). FTIR, SEM, BET, TGA, solid-state ¹³C and ²⁹Si MAS NMR spectra were employed to fully characterize these hybrid materials. They display good adsorption capacities for neonicotinoid insecticides (imidacloprid [IMI], acetamidine [ACE] and thiamethoxam [THI]), with capacities up to 117 ± 2, 70 ± 1 and 61 ± 4 mg g⁻¹, respectively. Dyes (Congo red [CR] and rhodamine B [RB]) can also be sufficiently removed, the adsorption capacities are 1822 ± 4 and 912 ± 3 mg g⁻¹. In addition, PCS-ODs can be cycled at least five times.     

Effective and Selective Catalysts for Cinnamaldehyde Hydrogenation: Hydrophobic Hybrids of Metal–Organic Frameworks,Metal Nanoparticles,and Micro‐ and Mesoporous Polymers

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as selectivity regulators for catalytic reactions have attracted much attention, especially MOFs and metal nanoparticle (NP) shelled structures, e.g., MOFs@NPs@MOFs. Nevertheless, making hydrophilic MOF shells for gathering hydrophobic reactants is challenging. Described here is a new and viable approach employing conjugated micro‐ and mesoporous polymers with iron(III) porphyrin (FeP‐CMPs) as a new shell to fabricate MIL‐101@Pt@FeP‐CMP. It is not only hydrophobic and porous for enriching reactants, but also possesses iron sites to activate C=O bonds, thereby regulating the selectivity for cinnamyl alcohol in the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. Interestingly, MIL‐101@Pt@FeP‐CMP^sponge can achieve a high turnover frequency ( 1516.1 h⁻¹), with 97.3 % selectivity for cinnamyl alcohol at 97.6 % conversion.     

Disclosing Support-Size-Dependent Effect on Ambient Light-Driven Photothermal CO2 Hydrogenation over Nickel/Titanium Dioxide

The size of support in heterogeneous catalysts can strongly affect the catalytic property but is rarely explored in light-driven catalysis. Herein, we demonstrate the size of TiO₂ support governs the selectivity in photothermal CO₂ hydrogenation by tuning the metal-support interactions (MSI). Small-size TiO₂ loading nickel (Ni/TiO₂-25) with enhanced MSI promotes photo-induced electrons of TiO₂ migrating to Ni nanoparticles, thus favoring the H₂ cleavage and accelerating the CH₄ formation (227.7 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) under xenon light-induced temperature of 360 °C. Conversely, Ni/TiO₂-100 with large TiO₂ prefers yielding CO (94.2 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) due to weak MSI, inefficient charge separation, and inadequate supply of activated hydrogen. Under ambient solar irradiation, Ni/TiO₂-25 achieves the optimized CH₄ rate (63.0 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) with selectivity of 99.8 %, while Ni/TiO₂-100 exhibits the CO selectivity of 90.0 % with rate of 30.0 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹. This work offers a novel approach to tailoring light-driven catalytic properties by support size effect.     

Highly-Active Chiral Organic Photovoltaic Catalysts with Suppressed Charge Recombination

Recombination of free charges in organic semiconductors reduces the available photo-induced charge-carriers and restricts photovoltaic efficiency. In this work, the chiral organic semiconductors (Y6-R and Y6-S with enantiopure R- and S- chiral alkyl sidechains) are designed and synthesized, which show effective aggregation-induced chirality through mainchain packing with chiral conformations in non-centrosymmetric space groups with tilt chirality. Based on the analysis of spin-injection, magnetic-hysteresis loop, and thermodynamics and dynamics of the excited state, we suggest that the aggregation-induced chirality can generate spin-polarization, which suppresses charge recombination and offers more available charge-carriers within Y6-R and Y6-S relative to the achiral counterpart (Y6). Then the chiral Y6-R and Y6-S show enhanced catalytic activity with optimal average hydrogen evolution rates of 205 and 217 mmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹, respectively, 60–70 % higher than Y6, when they are employed as nanoparticle photocatalysts in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under simulated solar light, AM1.5G, 100 mW cm⁻².     

Tweaking Photo CO2 Reduction by Altering Lewis Acidic Sites in Metalated-Porous Organic Polymer for Adjustable H2/CO Ratio in Syngas Production

Herein, we have specifically designed two metalated porous organic polymers ( Zn-POP and Co-POP ) for syngas (CO+H₂) production from gaseous CO₂. The variable H₂/CO ratio of syngas with the highest efficiency was produced in water medium (without an organic hole scavenger and photosensitizer) by utilizing the basic principle of Lewis acid/base chemistry. Also, we observed the formation of entirely different major products during photocatalytic CO₂ reduction and water splitting with the help of the two catalysts, where CO (145.65 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) and H₂ (434.7 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹) production were preferentially obtained over Co-POP & Zn-POP , respectively. The higher electron density/better Lewis basic nature of Co-POP was investigated further using XPS, XANES, and NH₃-TPD studies, which considerably improve CO₂ activation capacity. Moreover, the structure–activity relationship was confirmed via in situ DRIFTS and DFT studies, which demonstrated the formation of COOH* intermediate along with the thermodynamic feasibility of CO₂ reduction over Co-POP while water splitting occurred preferentially over Zn-POP .     

Strong-Base-Assisted Synthesis of a Crystalline Covalent Triazine Framework with High Hydrophilicity via Benzylamine Monomer for Photocatalytic Water Splitting

Methods to synthesize crystalline covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) are limited and little attention has been paid to development of hydrophilic CTFs and photocatalytic overall water splitting. A route to synthesize crystalline and hydrophilic CTF-HUST-A1 with a benzylamine-functionalized monomer is presented. The base reagent used plays an important role in the enhancement of crystallinity and hydrophilicity. CTF-HUST-A1 exhibits good crystallinity, excellent hydrophilicity, and excellent photocatalytic activity in sacrificial photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (hydrogen evolution rate up to 9200 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹). Photocatalytic overall water splitting is achieved by depositing dual co-catalysts in CTF-HUST-A1, with H₂ evolution and O₂ evolution rates of 25.4 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 12.9 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ in pure water without using sacrificial agent.     

Vinylene-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) with Symmetry-Tuned Polarity and Photocatalytic Activity

The polarity of a semiconducting molecule affects its intrinsic photophysical properties, which can be tuned by varying the molecular geometry. Herein, we developed a D_3h-symmetric tricyanomesitylene as a new monomer which could be reticulated into a vinylene-linked covalent organic framework (g-C₅₄N₆-COF) via Knoevenagel condensation with another D_3h-symmetric monomer 2,4,6-tris(4′-formyl-biphenyl-4-yl)-1,3,5-triazine. Replacing tricyanomesitylene with a C_2v-symmetric 3,5-dicyano-2,4,6-trimethylpyridine gave a less-symmetric vinylene-linked COF (g-C₅₂N₆-COF). The octupolar conjugated characters of g-C₅₄N₆-COF were reflected in its scarce solvatochromic effects either in ground or excited states, and endowed it with more promising semiconducting behavior as compared with g-C₅₂N₆-COF, such as enhanced light-harvesting and excellent photo-induced charge generation and separation. Along with the matched energy level, g-C₅₄N₆-COF enabled the two-half reactions of photocatalytic water splitting with an average O₂ evolution rate of 51.0 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ and H₂ evolution rate of 2518.9 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹. Such values are among the highest of state-of-the-art COF photocatalysts.