New routes to porous
materials can help lower production costs,
improve sustainability, and broaden design options. Here, we use a
selection of organic acids as catalysts in the synthesis of organic
hyper-cross-linked polymers from benzyl methyl ether compounds. This
approach provides a new route to metal-free porous organic polymers
and addresses one of the largest setbacks of hyper-cross-linked polymers
by allowing the simple recovery and recycling of a nonmetallic catalyst.
By use of p-toluenesulfonic acid, a solid at room
temperature, catalyst recovery rates of >80% were easily achieved.
The catalyst was then reused as recovered in the further production
of hyper-cross-linked polymers. Three rounds of catalyst recycling
are demonstrated on two different aromatic systems, with no apparent
detriment to the chemical or textural properties of the resulting
networks.
Highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysis driven by metallic nanoparticles relies on a high degree of stabilization of such nanomaterials facilitated by strong surface ligands or the deposition on solid...
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