Synthesis of porous coordination polymers using multifunctional ligands for selective adsorption of organic solvents.

Porous Coordination Polymers (PCPs) a frontier pushing class of materials with tunable properties and applications spanning multiple disciplines. The creation of PCPs can be unpredictable and challenging due to the highly specific set of conditions required for its synthesis to be successful. Moreover, every factor, such as choice of ligand, metal salt, solvents, pH, temperature, time, and precisely controlled ratios between all of these factors need to be optimized. Even with every factor under control the final result can be of an unexpected geometry. After overcoming these difficulties, we obtain an exceptionally versatile material that can be functionalized in multiple diverse ways as well as modified to better fit a specific purpose. This master’s thesis gives a deeper look into the process of developing a synthesis for two types of PCPs. One type uses disulfide bond containing ligands and Zn (II) metal centers to create a PCP for selective adsorption of organic solvents. This PCP was found to possess two derivatives as the solvent in its pores was expunged, undergoing a reversible single-crystal to single-crystal transformation. The other PCP was synthesized using Cu(II) metal centers and amide containing ligands to obtain a PCP designed for the potential applications as a heterogeneous catalyst in Knoevenagel condensation reactions.