Highly porous polymer dendrites of pyrrole derivatives synthesized through rapid oxidative polymerization

Highly porous organic structures are synthesized by the oxidative polymerization of pyrrole derivatives in a concentrated monomer and oxidant solution. The rapid polymerization of pyrrole by oxidation with FeCl3 in CHCl3 as a cosolvent for the monomer and the oxidant leads to nanometer-scale branching morphologies that have a specific surface area of ~200？m2？g？1. The polymerization of pyrrole derivatives, such as 1-methylpyrrole and 1-ethylpyrrole, produced intragranular micropores of ~1？nm in diameter in the polymer grains of nanoscale dendrites. We obtained highly porous polymers of polypyrrole derivatives that have high specific surface areas (~900？m2？g？1) with bimodal pore-size distribution. The enhanced adsorbability of porous polymer dendrites for aromatic molecules was confirmed, in comparison with that of conventional polystyrene adsorbents