Nanoporous materials derived from molecular and macromolecular components.

Conventional nanoporous materials are stabilized by a network of covalent bonds and so are not soluble or solution processable. Instead, our research group is interesting in making nanoporous materials from discrete molecules or macromolecules. For example, Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) are non-network materials that generate porosity from their rigid and contorted macromolecular chains. The combination of microporosity and solution processability facilitates applications of PIMs in sensors, for which a commercial device now exists, and as membranes for gas separations. The emerging structure-property relationships for PIM will be discussed.

Nanoporous Molecular Crystals composed of discrete molecules, between which there are only non-covalent interactions, are also of increasing interest. Our group has demonstrated that molecular crystals formed by metal complexes of 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octa(2’,6’-di-iso-propylphenoxy)-phthalocyanine contain solvent-filled interconnected voids of 8 nm3 volume. Strategies to stabilize these porous molecular crystals will be discussed together with their potential applications as magnetic materials and catalysts.