Green and High-Efficiency Room Temperature Synthesis of Hypercrosslinked Polymers in Acidic Ionic Liquids with Enhanced Adsorption Performance

Given the broad application potential of hypercrosslinked porous polymers (HCPs), recent research has focused on enhancing the sustainability of their synthesis. Current methods still face challenges such as low reaction efficiency and significant chlorinated wastewater. Here, HCPs were efficiently synthesized at room temperature using Lewis or Brønsted–Lewis acidic ILs as dual solvent–catalysts. The water-tolerant reaction requires no inert atmosphere and yields HCPs with a BET surface area (SBET) of up to 1172 m2·g–1 and a yield of up to 87% in 1 h. The catalytic efficiency was further enhanced by blending ILs with 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE). Optimized conditions with a specific ILs mass fraction in the solvent yielded HCPs with an SBET of 1386 m2·g–1 and a yield of 88%. The acidic ILs maintained catalytic efficiency over three cycles without producing acidic waste liquids. The method is scalable to the five-gram level and effectively catalyzes various bis(halomethyl) aromatic cross-linkers. The synthesized HCPs exhibited excellent adsorption performance for organic micropollutants (OMPs), with a maximum adsorption capacity of 1180 mg·g–1 for Rhodamine B (RhB). This research advances the understanding of HCPs synthesis and proposes a more efficient, environmentally friendly approach using ILs as dual solvent–catalysts, offering a greener pathway for industrial polymer production.