Highly Thermally Stable and Gas Selective Hexaphenylbenzene Tröger’s Base Microporous Polymers

This study shows the multistep synthesis of a series of Tröger's base polymers of intrinsic microporosity (TB-PIMs) based on a hexaphenylbenzene (HPB) core, with a focus on evaluating their thermal stability, porosity, and CO₂ capture performance. Both ladder and linear structures were prepared, designed to feature tunable nitrogen content and porosity. Our findings demonstrate that polymers with higher nitrogen content, such as tetra-TB-HPB, exhibit superior CO₂ affinity and selectivity, attributed to enhanced interactions with CO₂ and optimized micropore sizes. Linear TB-polymers 1 and 2 are also made for comparison and show competitive performance in carbon capture, suggesting that cost-effective, simpler-to-synthesize materials can achieve efficient gas separation. The study reveals that increased porosity significantly enhances CO₂ capacity and selectivity, particularly in networked TB-HPB-PIMs with high surface areas and narrow micropores, achieving values up to 544 m² g^-1, CO₂ uptake of 2.00 mmol g^-1, and CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 45.6. The thermal properties of these materials, assessed via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), show that TB-HPB-PIMs maintain robust thermal stability in nitrogen atmosphere, with tetra- and hexa-TB-HPBs leading the series. However, in oxidative environments, denser polymers such as TB-HPB and linear TB-polymer 1 demonstrate higher performance, likely due to restricted air diffusion. Overall, our findings highlight the critical need to balance porosity and thermal stability in TB-HPB-PIMs for applications in gas separation, carbon capture, and the potential for these polymers as flame retardant materials. Tetra-TB-HPB stands out as the most promising material for CO₂ capture and thermal stability under inert conditions, while denser polymers like TB-HPB offer superior performance in oxidative environments.