Amide Functionalized Microporous Organic Polymer (Am-MOP) for Selective CO2 Sorption and Catalysis

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 6; no. 7; pp. 4630 - 4637
• Main Authors: Suresh, Venkata M, Bonakala, Satyanarayana, Atreya, Hanudatta S, Balasubramanian, Sundaram, Maji, Tapas Kumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 09-04-2014
• Subjects: polar pore surface; microporosity; porous organic polymer; catalysis; Knoevenagel condensation; CO2 adsorption
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/am500057z

We report the design and synthesis of an amide functionalized microporous organic polymer (Am-MOP) prepared from trimesic acid and p-phenylenediamine using thionyl chloride as a reagent. Polar amide (−CONH−) functional groups act as a linking unit between the node and spacer and constitute the pore wall of the continuous polymeric network. The strong covalent bonds between the building blocks (trimesic acid and p-phenylenediamine) through amide bond linkages provide high thermal and chemical stability to Am-MOP. The presence of a highly polar pore surface allows selective CO2 uptake at 195 K over other gases such as N2, Ar, and O2. The CO2 molecule interacts with amide functional groups via Lewis acid–base type interactions as demonstrated through DFT calculations. Furthermore, for the first time Am-MOP with basic functional groups has been exploited for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction between aldehydes and active methylene compounds. Availability of a large number of catalytic sites per volume and confined microporosity gives enhanced catalytic efficiency and high selectivity for small substrate molecules.