Side-Chain Length and Dispersity in ROMP Polymers with Pore-Generating Side Chains for Gas Separations

Abstract

Bottlebrush polymers with flexible backbones and rigid side chains have shown ultrahigh CO2 permeability and plasticization resistance for membrane-based gas separations. To date, this class of polymers has only been studied with polydisperse side chains. Herein, we report gas transport properties of a methoxy (OMe) functionalized polymer synthesized via ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with uniform side-chain lengths ranging from n = 2 to 5 repeat units to elucidate the role of both side-chain length and dispersity on gas transport properties and plasticization resistance. As side-chain length increased, both Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and gas permeability increased with minimal losses in gas selectivity. Increased plasticization resistance was also observed with increasing side-chain length, which can be attributed to increased interchain rigidity from longer side chains. Controlling the side-chain length provides an effective strategy to rationally control and optimize the performance of ROMP polymers for CO2-based gas separations.