The fabrication and production of useful polymers from renewable or sustainably derived components represent an increasingly important societal concern. Plant-derived fatty acids are candidates for such applications due to their unsaturated polymerizable structure and accessibility. Here, we report on the utilization of such species to generate highly ordered nanostructured polymers. Specifically, we examine a thermotropic hexagonal columnar liquid crystal that is formed by self-assembly of a supramolecular complex of a ‘template’ molecule with complementary ligands. In this case, the template is a tri-functional amine, and the ligands are based on sustainably-derived, citronellol, which is a natural aliphatic monoterpenoid extracted from rose oil. We explore the phase behaviors of the system as a function of the stoichiometric ratio between the template and ligand. We observe the formation of hexagonal columnar mesophases in a relatively broad range of stoichiometries from 1:1.5 to 1:4. Chemically cross-linking the mesophase and removal of the molecular templates create nanoscale pores with diameters ranging from 1.6 to 1.0 nm respectively. Nanoporous networks made by these systems exhibit sharp selectivity for penetrants with different charge and size, and appear also to demonstrate shape selectivity, as investigated by adsorption experiments using dye molecules. We anticipate that these materials can retain or further improve the performance of current state-of-the-art nanofiltration membranes, while contributing an important sustainability aspect.

Highly ordered nanostructured membranes from supramolecular columnar assembly of sustainably derived materials

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ACS Fall 2022

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