Synthetic Control of Pore Properties in Conjugated Microporous Polymers Based on Carbazole Building Blocks

A series of conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) from 1,3,6,8-tetrabromocarbazole and its alkylated derivative is synthesized via Suzuki cross-coupling polycondensation. These polymer networks are stable in common organic solvents and thermally stable. The pore properties (pore size and surface area) of this kind of CMPs can be tuned by using either a linker with different geometries or carbazole substituted with alkyl groups. All of the polymers show high isosteric heats of CO2 adsorption (27.1-30.8 kJ mol(-1)) because the incorporation of nitrogen atoms into the skeleton of the CMP enhances the interaction between the pore wall and CO2 molecules. The polymer PPTBC shows a high Brunauer Emmett Teller specific surface area up to 917 m(2) g(-1) with a high CO2 uptake ability of 2.93 mmol g(-1) at 1.13 bar/273 K. These data show that these materials are potential candidates for applications in post-combustion CO2 capture and sequestration technology.