Preparation of sulfur-containing conjugated microporous polymer for adsorbing iodine and Fe3+ sensing

The adsorption of iodine by porous organic polymers is an active research topic. Two new thiol-linked conjugated microporous polymers (SHCMPs) were successfully prepared by thioalkynes click polymerization. Lone pair electrons of heteroatoms can enhance the interaction between adsorbent and adsorbate, the ability of adsorbent to capture iodine can be improved by introducing electron-rich groups such as nitrogen, thiophene, fluorine, etc. The saturated iodine adsorption capacities of SHCMP-1 and SHCMP-2 are 590 and 495 wt.%, respectively. In addition, SHCMP-2 performs well in detecting Fe 3+ in aqueous solution, which has potential importance for industrial application of water treatment. • Two new thiol-linked conjugated microporous polymers (SHCMPs) was rationally synthesized. • SHCMPs containing abundant active sites, which exhibited good adsorption capacity for iodine. • The polymer SHCMP-2 could effectively detect Fe 3+ ions.