Ammonia capture in porous organic polymers densely functionalized with Brønsted acid groups

The elimination of specific environmental and industrial contaminants, which are hazardous at only part per million to part per billion concentrations, poses a significant technological challenge. Adsorptive materials designed for such processes must be engendered with an exceptionally high enthalpy of adsorption for the analyte of interest. Rather than relying on a single strong interaction, the use of multiple chemical interactions is an emerging strategy for achieving this requisite physical parameter. Herein, we describe an efficient, catalytic synthesis of diamondoid porous organic polymers densely functionalized with carboxylic acids. Physical parameters such as pore size distribution, application of these materials to low-pressure ammonia adsorption, and comparison with analogous materials featuring functional groups of varying acidity are presented. In particular, BPP-5, which features a multiply interpenetrated structure dominated by <6 Å pores, is shown to exhibit an uptake of 17.7 mmol/g at 1 bar, the highest capacity yet demonstrated for a readily recyclable material. A complementary framework, BPP-7, features slightly larger pore sizes, and the resulting improvement in uptake kinetics allows for efficient adsorption at low pressure (3.15 mmol/g at 480 ppm). Overall, the data strongly suggest that the spatial arrangement of acidic sites allows for cooperative behavior, which leads to enhanced NH3 adsorption.