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

Abstract

This article describes the synthesis and carbon dioxide uptake of new organic microporous frameworks with built-in metal sites in the skeleton. Three novel microporous polymers have been synthesized via a Sonogashira–Hagihara coupling reaction with 1,3,5-triethynylbenzene and diverse metallosalen building blocks. These materials are insoluble in conventional solvents and exhibit high thermal and chemical stability. According to the nitrogen physisorption isotherms, the highest Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area up to 1200 m² g⁻¹ was obtained for three polymer frameworks with a pore volume of 0.94 cm³ g⁻¹. The polymer frameworks display high carbon dioxide uptake capacities (up to 8.2 wt%) and good selectivity at 273 K and 1 bar, which is impacted on significantly by the porosity of the frameworks, active heteroatoms and coordinatively unsaturated metal sites in the skeletons.