Self‐Assembled, Fluorine‐Rich Porous Organic Polymers: A Class of Mechanically Stiff and Hydrophobic Materials

Abstract

Fluorous organic building blocks were utilized to develop two self‐assembled, hydrophobic, fluorinated porous organic polymers (FPOPs), namely, FPOP‐100 and FPOP‐101. Comprehensive mechanical analyses of these functionalised triazine network polymers marked the introduction of mechanical stiffness among all porous organic network materials; the recorded stiffnesses are analogous to those of their organic–inorganic hybrid polymer congeners, that is, metal–organic frameworks. Furthermore, this study introduces a new paradigm for the simultaneous installation of mechanical stiffness and high surface hydrophobicity into polymeric organic networks, with the potential for transfer among all porous solids. Control experiments with non‐fluorinated congeners underlined the key role of fluorine, in particular, bis‐trifluoromethyl functionalization in realizing the dual features of mechanical stiffness and superhydrophobicity.