Efficient adsorptive desulfurization by task-specific porous organic polymers

A task-specific mesoporous organic polymer (TSPOP) with unique features like good porosity and rich aromatic phenyl groups was facilely made and utilized as a promising adsorptive desulfurization absorbent for the first time. The material exhibits an efficient saturated adsorption of dibenzothiophene (DBT), as high as 111.1 mg g −1 . In addition, the intrinsic mesoporous skeleton of TSPOP gave rise to a facile incorporation of uniform Ag(I) species inside the network which facilitated the uptake of organosulfur compounds. A significantly higher saturated DBT adsorption for Ag(I)-loaded TSPOP reaches 203.7 mg g −1 via a multiple-site interaction. A detailed model study based on the density functional calculation provides a deeper understanding of the origin of this high activity. In addition to the π–π stacking between DBT and phenyl rings, there exists an additional π-complexation adsorption with Ag(I) ions, thus, significantly improving the DBT capture performance. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J , 62: 1740–1746, 2016