1,3,5-Tris(functionalised-phenylethynyl)benzene–metal complexes: synthetic survey of mesoporous coordination polymers and investigation of their carbonisation

Abstract

A series of multicoordinate 1,3,5-tris(functionalised-phenylethynyl)benzenes (1–9) was synthesised, and coordination polymers were constructed from these organic linkers and copper ions in high yields. The carbonisation of the linkers 1–9 afforded a microporous carbon that shows type I adsorption–desorption isotherm. Although most of the coordination polymers prepared in this study turned out to be low porous materials, the coordination polymer 7e prepared from the reaction of 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenylethynyl)benzene tripotassium salt (K₃7) and copper(II) nitrate was a microporous material in addition to the mesoporous materials (7c and 7d) prepared from the reaction of K₃7 with copper(II) acetate and copper(II) chloride, respectively. The carbonisation of the coordination polymers unexceptionally brought about an increase of micropore volume. A stepwise analysis of 7c pyrolysed at 350, 600, and 900 °C revealed that the mesoporosity hardly changed upon heat treatment, which in other words, demonstrates that microporosity could be successfully added to the mesoporous coordination polymer through the carbonisation process.