Highly porous polymer dendrites of pyrrole derivatives synthesized through rapid oxidative polymerization

Abstract

Highly porous organic structures are synthesized by the oxidative polymerization of pyrrole derivatives in a concentrated monomer and oxidant solution. The rapid polymerization of pyrrole by oxidation with FeCl3 in CHCl3 as a cosolvent for the monomer and the oxidant leads to nanometer-scale branching morphologies that have a specific surface area of ~200 m2 g−1. The polymerization of pyrrole derivatives, such as 1-methylpyrrole and 1-ethylpyrrole, produced intragranular micropores of ~1 nm in diameter in the polymer grains of nanoscale dendrites. We obtained highly porous polymers of polypyrrole derivatives that have high specific surface areas (~900 m2 g−1) with bimodal pore-size distribution. The enhanced adsorbability of porous polymer dendrites for aromatic molecules was confirmed, in comparison with that of conventional polystyrene adsorbents. Highly porous organic structures are synthesized by the oxidative polymerization of pyrrole derivatives in a concentrated monomer and oxidant solution. The rapid polymerization of pyrrole derivatives by oxidation with FeCl3 in CHCl3 as a cosolvent for the monomer and the oxidant leads to nanometer-scale branching morphologies that have a specific surface area of ~900 m2 g−1 with bimodal pore-size distribution.