Regio- and size-selective catalysis : porous aromatic frameworks and C3-symmetric receptors

Abstract

Porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) have recently emerged as a new class of materials with impressive stability and high surface area, which led to their applications in gas storage and small molecule recognition. Herein, the synthesis and functionalization of PAFs were described, and their potential use as selective oligomerization for fuel upgrading was investigated. However, functionalized PAFs showed undesired reactivity possibly due to low rate of substrate and product diffusion in and out of the framework. On the other hand, a novel C3-symmetric hydrogen bonding receptor was synthesized and investigated for its use as size- and regioselective catalyst. It was demonstrated that the receptor was able to distinguish substrates with different functional groups in binding experiments, and was able to improve SN2 reaction yield although with some significant limitations.