Crystalline organic monoliths with bicontinuous porosity

Abstract

Organic crystals are a promising class of materials for various optical applications. However, it has been challenging to make macroscopic organic crystals with bicontinuous porosity that are applicable to flow chemistry. In this study, a new class of porous materials, cm-scale crystalline organic monoliths (COMs) with bicontinuous porosity, are synthesized by replicating the porous structure of silica monolith templates. The COMs composed of p-terphenyl can take up more than 30 wt% of an aqueous solution, and the photophysical properties of the p-terphenyl crystals are well maintained in the COMs. The relatively high surface area of the COMs can be exploited for efficient Dexter energy transfer from triplet sensitizers on the pore surface. The resulting triplet excitons in the COMs encounter and annihilate, generating upconverted UV emission. The COMs would open a new avenue toward applications of organic crystals in flow photoreaction systems.