Up to now, approaches capable of affording conjugated porous networks (CPNs) still rely on solution-based coupling reactions promoted by noble metal complexes or Lewis acids, on-surface polymerization conducted in ultra-high-vacuum (UHV) environment at very high temperatures (>200 °C), or mechanochemical Scholl-type reactions limited to electron-rich substrates. To develop simple and scalable approaches capable of making conjugated porous networks (CPNs) under neat and ambient conditions, herein a novel and complementary method to the current oxidative Scholl coupling processes was demonstrated to afford CPNs via direct aromatic ring knitting promoted by mechanochemical Ullmann-type reactions.
This work was supported by Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport (FIRST) Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) - U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
