SGER: Phantom Couplers in 2-D Polymerization

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Abstract Proposal No: 9727165 Proposal Type: SGER Principal Investigator: Josef Michl Affiliation: University of Colorado This grant is awarded through the Separations and Purification Program sub-element of the Interfacial, Transport and Separations Program of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division. The principal investigator is Dr. Josef Michl of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The research will test a new concept in the two-dimensional cross-linking polymerization of molecular modules into covalent molecular grids. This will permit the crosslinking to be both revsersible, thus permitting annealing to highly regular 2-D crystalline structures, and irreversible, making the grids very sturdy and useful for applications. These seemingly contradictory requirements will be met by separating the initial reversible organization of the grid through weakly and reversibly binding ("phantom") couplers in time from the final fixing of the grid through strongly and irreversibly binding real couplers. The preparation of ultrathin molecular grids with controllable opening dimensions and selectable chemical functionalization would open new horizons in membrane science. Such 2-D molecular sieves would be capable of handling extremely high fluxes and pore blockage would also be minimized. Successful research could have a major impact on separations technology.