Function-led Design & Syntheses of Advanced Porous Organic Polymers and their Composites: Heterogeneous Catalysis and Toxic Pollutants Separation

Abstract

Our daily life is unimaginable barring catalysis, which has emerged as a fundamental need toward the basic necessities of life. With a booming world economy in combination with ever escalating global population and shrinking raw materials supply, mass-production in a greener & sustainable manner has become critically important. Keeping this goal in perspective, the development and utilization of potent heterogeneous catalysts featuring the convenience of recyclability towards organic synthesis allowing minimal waste generation and optimal efficiency has shown great promise. Porous organic polymers (POPs) bearing nanoporous robust crosslinked networks and the leverage of crafting engineered nanosapce in terms of functionality as well as porosity have attracted enormous research attention. However, strategic function-led fabrication of advanced POPs and their composites in order to accomplish superior catalytic performance in promoting mild-condition and eco-friendly organic transformations have not been explored enough. The first part of this thesis work focuses on judicious selection of monomers and precise post-polymerization alteration to develop potent heterogeneous catalysts that can drive important organic transformations under eco-friendly mild-conditions without compromising on the activity. The emergence of water pollution a high-priority global issue has consequently made the sequestration of hazardous contaminants from wastewater a topical research attraction lately. Augmented mining and manufacturing, has led to the intrusion of various water sources with toxic pollutants, putting the Earth’s drinkable water supply at huge risk. Detoxification of wastewater via adsorptive removal has come forth as a particularly potent method toward purification of water being environment friendly, energetically favorable and economic. In this regard, we explored the design and development of task-specific POPs and their composites toward detoxification of contaminated water in the second part of the thesis. In particular, fundamental criterions of pollutants sequestration were taken as cornerstones in designing the materials that is often challenging to realize in traditional sorbents. Combined merits of swift kinetics, enhanced uptake capacity as well as easy handling was achieved a an ionic POP composite while a unique bioinspired synergistic detoxification was harnessed through strategic modifications in an ionic macro POP highlighting the importance of design rationale toward developing sophisticated materials showcasing superior performance. In summary, some key design parameters as well as post-polymerization structure modulation have been investigated meticulously in crafting superior porous materials toward enhanced performance in heterogeneous catalysis and water treatment.