Sustainable synthesis of superhydrophobic perfluorinated nanoporous networks for small molecule separation

S. Kim§, D. Thirion§, T. S. Nguyen, B. Kim, N. A. Dogan, C. T. Yavuz* 
Chem. Mater., 31, 14, 5206-5213, (2019). §: Equal contribution
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b01447

Nanoporous polymers offer great promise in chemical capture and separations because of their versatility, scalability, and robust nature. Here, we report a general methodology for one-pot, metal-free, and room-temperature synthesis of nanoporous polymers by highly stable carbon–carbon bond formation. Three new polymers, namely, COP-177, COP-178, and COP-179, are derived from widely available perfluoroarenes and found to be superhydrophobic, microporous, and highly stable against heat, acid, base, and organic solvents. Nitrile, amine, and ether functionalities were successfully installed by SNAr-type postfunctionalization and were shown to increase CO2 uptake twice and CO2/N2 selectivity 4-fold. Due to its inherent superhydrophobicity, COP-177 showed high organic solvent uptake both in liquid and vapor form. Furthermore, in a first of its kind, by combining microporosity and hydrophobicity, COP-177 separated two small molecules with the same boiling point in a continuous column setting.

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Sustainable porous polymer catalyst for size-selective cross-coupling reactions

S. Kim, B. Kim, N. A. Dogan, C. T. Yavuz*
ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng., 7, 10865-10872 (2019).
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b01729

A new, high surface area, nanoporous polymer (COP-220) was synthesized using sustainable building blocks, namely, a food coloring dye (erythrosine B) and a commercial alkyne. During the Sonogashira coupling, it is observed that Pd and Cu ions and triphenylphosphine ligands of the catalyst get trapped inside the pores. The remnant synthesis catalyst components were characterized in detail and were tested as a new catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions. COP-220 showed conversion yields comparable to the commercial homogeneous catalyst Pd(PPh3)2Cl2 with an additional advantage of size-dependent catalytic activity when bulkier substrates were used. COP-220 was highly stable under thermal and chemical treatments and recyclable with no loss of activity. These findings show a clear need for extensive characterization of nanoporous polymers made through cross-coupling reactions and the potential of the trapped catalysts for new catalytic activity without additional loading.

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