A series of phthalimide based microporous polymers were successfully prepared by conventional nucleophilic substitution reaction of several newly synthesized tetrafluoro-monomers with commercially available 5,5',6,6'-tetrahydroxy-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylspirobisindane. FTIR, 1 H NMR, and elemental analyses were used to identify the proposed structures of the polymers. The synthesized polymers are of high molecular weight as demonstrated by Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC). Thermogravimetric

more »

... ysis shows that the prepared polymers were stable up to 300 o C. From the porosity analysis it is clear that the prepared polymers are analogous to polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) with high surface area (350-800 m 2 /g). The t-plot analysis shown that the major contribution to the specific surface area is arising from the micropore surface area with narrow size distribution of ultramicropores as confirmed by the Horvath-Kawazoe (H-K) analysis. The hydrogen storage capacity of the prepared PIM-SI-(1-7)s were promising (up to 1.26 wt%, 77 K, at 1.13 bar) with high isoteric heats of H 2 adsorption (8.5 kJ/mol). The results of this study demonstrate that controlling the appropriate monomer content via the three-dimensional structure can provide a uniform microporous morphology in the target polymers.