Hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) are a series of permanent microporous polymer materials initially reported by Davankov, and have received an increasing level of research interest. In recent years, HCPs have experienced rapid growth due to their remarkable advantages such as diverse synthetic methods, easy functionalization, high surface area, low cost reagents and mild operating conditions. Judicious selection of monomers, appropriate length crosslinkers and optimized reaction conditions yielded a well-developed polymer framework with an adjusted porous topology. Post fabrication of the as developed network facilitates the incorporation of various chemical functionalities that may lead to interesting properties and enhance the selection toward a specific application. To date, numerous HCPs have been prepared by post-crosslinking polystyrene-based precursors, one-step self-polycondensation or external crosslinking strategies. The advent of these methodologies has prompted researchers to construct well-defined porous polymer networks with customized micromorphology and functionalities. In this review, we describe not only the basic synthetic principles and strategies of HCPs, but also the advancements in the structural and morphological study as well as the frontiers of potential applications in energy and environmental fields such as gas storage, carbon capture, removal of pollutants, molecular separation, catalysis, drug delivery, sensing etc.

Cost-effective adsorbents for water treatment is easy available through one-pot Friedel−Crafts reaction of triptycene. With hierarchical porous structure, high surface area, high thermal stability, and excellent adsorption capacities for organic solvents and dyes, the triptycene-based hyper-cross-linked polymer sponge (THPS) may be ideal adsorbents for a wide range of large-scale applications in water purification and treatment.

A quadrangular prismatic tricyclooxacalixarene cage 1 based on tetraphenylethylene (TPE) was efficiently synthesized by a one-pot S(N)Ar condensation reaction. As a result of the porous internal structure in the solid state, cage 1 exhibited a good CO2 uptake capacity of 12.5 wt% and a high selectivity for CO2 over N2 adsorption of 80 (273 K, 1 bar) with a BET surface area of 432 m(2) g(-1). Formation of cage 1 led to the fluorescence of TPE being switched on in solution. The system was employed as a single-molecule platform to study the mechanism of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) by examining the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR).

Scheme 1. Synthesis of NTP a a Reagents and conditions: 1,5-cyclooctadiene, bis(1,5-cyclooctadiene) nickel(0), 2,2′-bipyridyl, DMF, 85 °C, 96 h.

Hierarchical porous polystyrene monoliths (HCP-PolyHIPE) are obtained by hypercrosslinking poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) monoliths prepared by polymerization of high internal phase emulsions (PolyHIPEs). The hypercrosslinking is achieved using an approach known as knitting which employs formaldehyde dimethyl acetal (FDA) as an external crosslinker. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirms that the macroporous structure in the original monolith is retained during the knitting process. By increasing the amount of divinylbenzene (DVB) in PolyHIPE, the BET surface area and pore volume of the HCP-PolyHIPE decrease, while the micropore size increases. BET surface areas of 196-595 m(2) g(-1) are obtained. The presence of micropores, mesopores, and macropores is confirmed from the pore size distribution. With a hierarchical porous structure, the monoliths reveal comparable gas sorption properties and potential applications in oil spill clean-up.