1,3,5-Tris(functionalised-phenylethynyl)benzene–metal complexes: synthetic survey of mesoporous coordination polymers and investigation of their carbonisation

A series of multicoordinate 1,3,5-tris(functionalised-phenylethynyl)benzenes (1–9) was synthesised, and coordination polymers were constructed from these organic linkers and copper ions in high yields. The carbonisation of the linkers 1–9 afforded a microporous carbon that shows type I adsorption–desorption isotherm. Although most of the coordination polymers prepared in this study turned out to be low porous materials, the coordination polymer 7e prepared from the reaction of 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenylethynyl)benzene tripotassium salt (K37) and copper(II) nitrate was a microporous material in addition to the mesoporous materials (7c and 7d) prepared from the reaction of K37 with copper(II) acetate and copper(II) chloride, respectively. The carbonisation of the coordination polymers unexceptionally brought about an increase of micropore volume. A stepwise analysis of 7c pyrolysed at 350, 600, and 900 °C revealed that the mesoporosity hardly changed upon heat treatment, which in other words, demonstrates that microporosity could be successfully added to the mesoporous coordination polymer through the carbonisation process.