Substituent Effects on the Gas Sorption and Selectivity Properties of Hexaphenylbenzene and Hexabenzocoronene Based Porous Polymers

Herein we report a series of porous organic polymers (POPs) synthesized through a Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction containing hexaphenylbenzene (HEX) and hexabenzocoronene (HBC) with varying peripheral substitution. We observed vastly different gas sorption properties depending on substituent size and the extent of conjugation in the monomer core structure with BET surface areas ranging from 320 m2/g for HBC-POP-4 to 1140 m2/g for HEX-POP-3. In order to more clearly understand the effects of functional group substitution on the properties of these materials, we have characterized these POPs using N2, CO2, and H2 sorption measurements, powder X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA, and EDX.