Preparation and oxygen permeability of pure supramolecular polymer membranes synthesized from poly (substituted phenylacetylene)

Abstract

We previously reported a new preparation method for supramolecular polymers having self-membrane forming ability from poly (substituted phenylacetylene)s using highly selective photocyclic aromatization (the SCAT reaction). However, since mechanical strengths of their membranes were not enough for oxygen permeation process, we could not estimate their oxygen permselectivities. In this study, we successfully obtained oxygen permselectivities from the experimental data for their pure supramolecular polymer membranes prepared on porous supports. This is the first example of gas permeability data for pure supramolecular polymer membranes. Surprisingly, the oxygen permselectivities were higher than those for their corresponding conventional polymer membranes. It may be because the supramolecular polymer membranes had denser and less defected structures than their corresponding conventional polymer membranes. It was thought that the supramolecularly-bonded main chains in these pure supramolecular polymers worked like the covalently-bonded main chains in the conventional polymers in the permeation.