Evaluating the impact of functional groups on membrane-mediated CO2/N-2 gas separations using a common polymer backbone

Polymeric membranes have shown tremendous promise for the separation of CO2 from flue gas streams. However, few systematic studies have been conducted to better understand the impact that chemical functionalities have on membrane-based gas separation performance. To address this gap, we herein describe the synthesis and gas separation performance of a series of vinyl-addition polynorbornenes bearing various CO2-philic functional groups. To facilitate direct comparison between functional groups, each material was designed to maintain a common polymer backbone. Though the incorporation of CO2-philic moieties within a dense polymeric membrane is frequently hypothesized to enhance CO2 solubility, and thereby increase CO2/N-2 selectivity, our results demonstrate that the incorporation of CO2-philic groups onto a common polymer backbone do not necessarily result in increased gas separation performance. Experimental and computational results demonstrate that the incorporation of amidoxime groups onto a polynorbornene backbone increase CO2/N-2 selectivity, whereas commonly employed ethereal side chains only increased permeability.