Porous carbons

A method is provided for making mesoporous resin. It comprises: (a) providing a nucleophilic component which comprises a phenolic compound or a phenol condensation prepolymer optionally with one or more modifying reagents selected from hydroquinone, resorcinol, urea, aromatic amines and heteroaromatic amines; (b) dissolving the nucleophilic component in a pore former selected from the group consisting of a diol, a diol ether, a cyclic ester, a substituted cyclic ester, a substituted linear amide, a substituted cyclic amide, an amino alcohol and a mixture of any of the above with water, together with at least one electrophilic cross-linking agent selected from the group consisting of formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, furfural and hexamethylene tetramine; and (c) condensing the nucleophilic component and the electrophilic cross-linking agent in the presence of the pore former to form a porous resin. The resin may be formed in situ by pouring the partially cross-linked resin into hot oil. Mesoporous resin beads are obtained which can be carbonized into mesoporous carbon beads.