Synthesis, CO2 Adsorption and Catalytic Properties of Porphyrin-Pyromellitic Dianhydride Based Porous Polymers

The synthesis, characterization and CO2 uptake tendency of a new porous organic polymer (POP) based on porphyrin-pyromellitic dianhyderide is enclosed. The reported porphyrin POP was achieved by exploiting the condensation reaction between tetraaminophenylporphyrin (TAPP) with benzenetetracarboxylic (pyromellitic) diahhydride in dry dimethylforamide (DMF). The structure of the resulting polymer was confirmed by FT-IR as well as solid state C-13 cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) NMR studies. In addition, the post-synthetic metallation of the free-base porphyrin macrocycles of the resulting POP with either Zn or Mn metals afforded the metallo-porphyrin POP analogues in excellent yields. The morphology of the reported porphyrin POPs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which demonstrated the porosity of the resulting POPs. Furthermore, CO2 adsorption capabilities of the synthesized POPs were evaluated and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area was found to be 542, 597 and 828 m(2)/g for free-base, Zn- and Mn-III-POP, respectively. Finally, Mn-III-POP was found to be an effective catalyst for the selective epoxidation of styrene to the corresponding epoxide.