Synthesis and Characterization of Benzene- and Triazine-Based Azo-Bridged Porous Organic Polymers

Porous organic polymers incorporating nitrogen-rich functionalities have recently emerged as promising materials for efficient and highly selective CO₂ capture and separation. Herein, we report synthesis and characterization of new two-dimensional (2D) benzene- and triazine-based azo-bridged porous organic polymers. Different synthetic approaches towards the porous azo-bridged polymers were tested, including reductive homocoupling of aromatic nitro monomers, oxidative homocoupling of aromatic amino monomers and heterocoupling of aromatic nitro monomers and a series of aromatic diamines of different lengths and rigidity. IR spectroscopy, ¹³C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, nitrogen adsorption-desorption experiments and computational study were used to characterize structures and properties of the resulting polymers. The synthesized azo-bridged polymers are all amorphous solids of good thermal stability, exhibiting various surface areas (up to 351 m² g^-1). The obtained results indicated that the synthetic methods and building units have a pronounced effect on the porosity of the final materials. Reductive and oxidative homocoupling of aromatic nitro and amino building units, respectively, lead to 2D azo-bridged polymers of substantially higher porosity when compared to those produced by heterocoupling reactions. Periodic DFT calculations and Grand-canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations suggested that, within the used approximations, linear linkers of different lengths do not significantly affect CO₂ adsorption properties of model azo-bridged polymers.

An Ultrastable Porous Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane/Tetraphenylthiophene Hybrid as a High-Performance Electrode for Supercapacitors

In this study, we synthesized three hybrid microporous polymers through Heck couplings of octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS) with 2,5-bis(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (OXD-Br₂), tetrabromothiophene (Th-Br₄), and 2,5-bis(4-bromophenyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene (TPTh-Br₂), obtaining the porous organic–inorganic polymers (POIPs) POSS-OXD, POSS-Th, and POSS-TPTh, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and solid state ¹³C and ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy confirmed their chemical structures. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that, among these three systems, the POSS-Th POIP possessed the highest thermal stability (T₅: 586 °C; T₁₀: 785 °C; char yield: 90 wt%), presumably because of a strongly crosslinked network formed between its OVS and Th moieties. Furthermore, the specific capacity of the POSS-TPTh POIP (354 F g⁻¹) at 0.5 A g⁻¹ was higher than those of the POSS-Th (213 F g⁻¹) and POSS-OXD (119 F g⁻¹) POIPs. We attribute the superior electrochemical properties of the POSS-TPTh POIP to its high surface area and the presence of electron-rich phenyl groups within its structure.

Porous Organic Polymers Derived from Ferrocene and Tetrahedral Silicon-Centered Monomers for Carbon Dioxide Sorption

Herein, we present two novel ferrocene-containing porous organic polymers, FPOP-1 and FPOP-2, by the Heck reactions of 1,1'-divinylferrocene with two tetrahedral silicon-centered units, i.e., tetrakis(4-bromophenyl)silane and tetrakis(4'-bromo-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)silane. The resulting materials possess high thermal stability and moderate porosity with the Brunauer-Emmer-Teller (BET) surface areas of 499 m2 g-1 (FPOP-1) and 354 m2 g-1 (FPOP-2) and total pore volumes of 0.43 cm3 g-1 (FPOP-1) and 0.49 cm3 g-1 (FPOP-2). The porosity is comparable to previously reported ferrocene-containing porous polymers. These materials possess comparable CO2 capacities of 1.16 mmol g-1 (5.10 wt%) at 273 K and 1.0 bar, and 0.54 mmol g-1 (2.38 wt%) at 298 K and 1.0 bar (FPOP-1). The found capacities are comparable to, or higher than many porous polymers having similar or higher surface areas. They have high isosteric heats of up to 32.9 kJ mol-1, proving that the affinity between the polymer network and CO2 is high, which can be explained by the presence of ferrocene units in the porous networks. These results indicate that these materials can be promisingly utilized as candidates for the storage or capture of CO2. More ferrocene-containing porous polymers can be designed and synthesized by combining ferrocene units with various aromatic monomers under this strategy and their applications could be explored.

Porous silsesquioxane cage and porphyrin nanocomposites: sensing and adsorption for heavy metals and anions

A porous silsesquioxane cage/porphyrin nanocomposite was designed as a dual fluorescent probe for the sensing and adsorption of both heavy metal ions and anions.

Artificial Synthesis of Conjugated Microporous Polymers via Sonogashira-Hagihara Coupling

Amorphous network materials are becoming increasingly important with applications, for example, as supercapacitors, battery anodes, and proton conduction membranes. The design of these materials is hampered by the amorphous nature of the structure and sensitivity to synthetic conditions. Here, we show that through artificial synthesis, fully mimicking the catalytic formation cycle, and full synthetic conditions, we can generate structural models that can fully describe the physical properties of these amorphous network materials. This opens up pathways for the rational design where complex structural influences, such as the solvent and catalyst choice, can be taken into account.

Cage-like silsesquioxanes-based hybrid materials

Cage-like silsesquioxanes are considered to be ideal and versatile building blocks of hybrid materials due to their unique structures and excellent performance. This Perspective highlights recent advances in the field of cage-like silsesquioxane-based hybrid materials, ranging from monomer functionalization and materials preparation to application. The existing issues are reviewed and the challenges and prospects in this field are also discussed for further development and exploitation.

A POSS-Phosphazene Based Porous Material for Adsorption of Metal Ions from Water

The development of adsorptive materials continues to be an important area of research for removal of heavy metal ions from waste water. The adsorption capacity can be modulated by both physical and chemical modification of the adsorbent. Herein, we combine the unique properties of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) and organocyclophosphazene as the building units to synthesize a hybrid porous material, abbreviated as PN-POSS. The synthetic method follows a Heck reaction between hexa(4-bromophenoxy)cyclotriphosphazene and octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS). The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis shows that the material possesses micro- and mesopores of 1.5 and 3.8 nm size and a surface area on the order of 500 m²  g^-1 . These attributes in combination with the donor ability of the phosphazene units qualify the material for high adsorption of Pb²⁺ , Hg²⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions with maximal adsorption capacities on the order of 1326, 1927 and 2654 mg g^-1 , respectively. The adsorbent exhibits a good regeneration performance and can be effectively used for water treatment.

Porous networks based on iron(ii) clathrochelate complexes

Microporous networks based on boronate ester-capped iron(ii) clathrochelate complexes are described. The networks were obtained by covalent cross-linking of tetrabrominated clathrochelate complexes via Suzuki-Miyaura polycross-coupling reactions with diboronic acids, or by Sonogashira-Hagihara polycross-coupling of clathrochelate complexes with terminal alkyne functions and 1,3,5-tribromobenzene. The networks display permanent porosity with apparent Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface areas of up to SABET = 593 m2 g-1. A clathrochelate complex based on an enantiopure dioximato ligand was used to prepare chiral networks. One of these networks was shown to preferentially absorb d-tryptophan over l-tryptophan.

Light-induced synthesis of triazine N-oxide-based cross-linked polymers for effective photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange

The polymeric aromatic N-oxides (LCPO-1 and LCPO-2) as organic metal-free photocatalysts have shown great potential in the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) in solution.

Synthesis of diblock copolymers consisting of POSS-containing random methacrylate copolymers and polystyrene and their cross-linked microphase-separated structure via fluoride ion-mediated cage scrambling

POSS-containing diblock copolymers were synthesized for the formation of cross-linked microphase-separated structure.

Fluorescence-Tuned Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane-Based Porous Polymers

Two series of new polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based fluorescent hybrid porous polymers, HPP-1 and HPP-2, have been prepared by the Heck reaction of octavinylsilsesquioxane with 2,2',7,7'-tetrabromo-9,9'-spirobifluorene and 1,3,6,8-tetrabromopyrene, respectively. Three sets of reaction conditions were employed to assess their effect on fluorescence. These materials exhibit tunable fluorescence from nearly no fluorescence to bright fluorescence both in the solid state and dispersed in ethanol under UV light irradiation by simply altering the reaction conditions. We speculated that the difference may be attributable to the fluorescence quenching induced by Et3 N, P(o-CH3 Ph)3 , and their hydrogen bromide salts employed in the reactions. This finding could give valuable suggestions for the construction of porous polymers with tunable/controllable fluorescence, especially those prepared by Heck and Sonogashira reactions in which these quenchers are used as organic bases or co-catalysts. In addition, the porosities can also be tuned, but different trends in porosity have been found in these two series of polymers, which suggests that various factors should be carefully considered in the preparation of porous polymers with tunable/controllable porosity. Furthermore, HPP-1 c showed moderate CO2 uptake and fluorescence that was efficiently quenched by nitroaromatic explosives, thereby indicating that these materials could be utilized as solid absorbents for the capture and storage of CO2 and as sensing agents for the detection of explosives.

Amine post-functionalized POSS-based porous polymers exhibiting simultaneously enhanced porosity and carbon dioxide adsorption properties

We provide a possibility for post-synthetic amine functionalization of porous polymers exhibiting enhanced CO₂ capacity and selectivity without compromising the porosity.

Aminal linked inorganic–organic hybrid nanoporous materials (HNMs) for CO2 capture and H2 storage applications

Cyclophosphazene based nitrogen-rich aminal-linked inorganic–organic hybrid nanoporous materials were synthesized by a Schiff-base condensation reaction, which captures 18.9 wt% of CO₂.

Construction of porous cationic frameworks by crosslinking polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane units with N-heterocyclic linkers

In fields of materials science and chemistry, ionic-type porous materials attract increasing attention due to significant ion-exchanging capacity for accessing diversified applications. Facing the fact that porous cationic materials with robust and stable frameworks are very rare, novel tactics that can create new type members are highly desired. Here we report the first family of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) based porous cationic frameworks (PCIF-n) with enriched poly(ionic liquid)-like cationic structures, tunable mesoporosities, high surface areas (up to 1,025 m(2) g(-1)) and large pore volumes (up to 0.90 cm(3) g(-1)). Our strategy is designing the new rigid POSS unit of octakis(chloromethyl)silsesquioxane and reacting it with the rigid N-heterocyclic cross-linkers (typically 4,4'-bipyridine) for preparing the desired porous cationic frameworks. The PCIF-n materials possess large surface area, hydrophobic and special anion-exchanging property, and thus are used as the supports for loading guest species PMo10V2O40(5-); the resultant hybrid behaves as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for aerobic oxidation of benzene and H2O2-mediated oxidation of cyclohexane.

Hybrid nanoporous polystyrene derived from cubic octavinylsilsesquioxane and commercial polystyrene via the Friedel–Crafts reaction

A series of POSS-based nanoporous materials were prepared from commercial polystyrene and octavinylsilsesquioxane via the Friede–Crafts reaction.

Octavinylsilsesquioxane-based luminescent nanoporous inorganic–organic hybrid polymers constructed by the Heck coupling reaction

A class of luminescent nanoporous inorganic–organic hybrid polymers has been synthesized by the Heck coupling of octavinylsilsesquioxane with aromatic bromide monomers. The resulting materials exhibit porous and luminescent features, and show picric acid sensing behaviour.

POSS-based luminescent porous polymers for carbon dioxide sorption and nitroaromatic explosives detection

Luminescent porous polymers based on octavinylsilsequioxane and triphenylamine units show tunable porosity and luminescence, a moderate uptake of CO₂ and high sensitivity for TNT.

Metallosalen-based microporous organic polymers: synthesis and carbon dioxide uptake

Three metallosalen-based microporous organic polymers were designed and synthesized. New materials display excellent porosity and good capacities for store and separation of carbon dioxide at 273 K and 1 bar.