Molecular template-directed synthesis of microporous polymer networks for highly selective CO₂ capture

Porous polymer networks have great potential in various applications including carbon capture. However, complex monomers and/or expensive catalysts are commonly used for their synthesis, which makes the process complicated, costly, and hard to scale up. Herein, we develop a molecular template strategy to fabricate new porous polymer networks by a simple nucleophilic substitution reaction of two low-cost monomers (i.e., chloromethylbenzene and ethylene diamine). The polymerization reactions can take place under mild conditions in the absence of any catalysts. The resultant materials are interconnected with secondary amines and show well-defined micropores due to the structure-directing role of solvent molecules. These properties make our materials highly efficient for selective CO₂ capture, and unusually high CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄ selectivities are obtained. Furthermore, the adsorbents can be completely regenerated under mild conditions. Our materials may provide promising candidates for selective capture of CO₂ from mixtures such as flue gas and natural gas. (Chemical Equation Presented).