Facile Fabrication of Hierarchically Porous Boronic Acid Group-Functionalized Monoliths With Optical Activity for Recognizing Glucose With Different Conformation

At present, various materials based on helical polymers are nanoparticle or microsphere, which is not ease of use in practical application. Accordingly, facile preparation hierarchically porous monolith based on helical polymer needs to be developed. Herein, hierarchically porous boronic acid group-functionalized monoliths that exhibited optical activity were fabricated with a facile method based on crosslinking and polymerization-induced phase separation (CPIPS). Chiral substituted acetylene and achiral substituted acetylene with a boronic acid group were used as monomers. By regulating the composition of the pre-polymerization solution, the permeability and macropore size of the porous structure could be controlled. The hierarchically porous structure and large surface area were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen gas adsorption/desorption isotherms. In particular, the boronic acid functional group that can interact with a cis-diol group was successfully introduced on the skeleton surface of the monoliths. Further, the main chain of the copolymer that constituted the monoliths exhibited a high cis content and tacticity, and the monoliths showed good optical activity. Thus, the present study established a facile method to synthesize hierarchically porous boronic acid group-functionalized monoliths with optical activity via CPIPS, and the monoliths showed potential in recognition, separation, and adsorption of compound with chirality and cis-diol groups.

Automated summary

In this study, a facile method to synthesize hierarchically porous boronic acid group-functionalized monoliths with optical activity was developed using crosslinking and polymerization-induced phase separation (CPIPS). The composition of the pre-polymerization solution was adjusted to control the permeability and macropore size of the porous structure. The hierarchically porous structure and large surface area were confirmed by microscopy and gas adsorption measurements. Furthermore, the boronic acid functional group was successfully introduced on the surface of the monoliths, allowing for interaction with cis-diol groups. The monoliths exhibited good optical activity, showing potential in the recognition, separation, and adsorption of compounds with chirality and cis-diol groups.