1,3,5-Triazine-Based Microporous Polymers with Tunable Porosities for CO₂ Capture and Fluorescent Sensing

Abstract

The synthetic control over pore structure remains highly desirable for porous organic frameworks. Here, we present a competitive chemistry strategy, i.e., a systematical regulation on Friedel–Crafts reaction and Scholl coupling reaction through tuning the ratios of monomers. This leads to a series of spirobifluorene-based microporous polymers (Sbf-TMPs) with systematically tuned porosities and N content. Unlike the existing copolymerization strategy by which the synthesized polymers exhibit a monotonic change tendency in the porosities, our networks demonstrate an unusually different trend where the porosity increases first and then decreases with the increasing Ph/Cl ratios for the monomers. This is mainly ascribed to the completion of coexisting reaction routines and the different “internal molecular free volumes” of the repeating units. The as-made networks feature tunable capacities for CO 2 adsorption over a wide range and attractive CO 2 /N 2 selectivities. Moreover, these donor–acceptor type frameworks exhibit selective and highly sensitive fluorescence-on or fluorescence-off properties toward volatile organic compounds, which implies their great potential in fluorescent sensors.