Novel monomers and methods for the synthesis of porous materials

Porous materials have been intensely studied the last few decades for their properties with applications in areas such as, gas storage and separation, chemical sensing, and thin films. Luminescent metal organic frameworks (LMOFs) have great applications in chemical sensing due to quenching effects. A series of fluoranthene-based (DI-MOF-1, TRI-MOF-1, TETRA-MOF-1) LMOFs were synthesized and their gas adsorption, fluorescence, and quenching properties were compared. DI-MOF-1 showed the largest BET surface area with 1746 m2/g, but TETRA-MOF-1 had the best gas adsorption due to having a larger pore size (9.08 A). Hydrazone-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have proved difficult to develop. Aniline catalyzed COF formation could ease some of these issues as aniline forms a reactive Schiff base intermediate that aids in transimination and reduces delamination effects. COF-43, a hydrazone-based COF, was successfully synthesized via aniline catalysis.