In this work, microporous polymer membranes were synthesized through super-acid-catalyzed Friedel–Crafts polycondensation, employing electrophilic isatin and nucleophilic aromatic building blocks, to examine how polymer chain packing structures infl...
In this work, microporous polymer membranes were synthesized through super-acid-catalyzed Friedel–Crafts polycondensation, employing electrophilic isatin and nucleophilic aromatic building blocks, to examine how polymer chain packing structures influence gas transport behavior and plasticization resistance. By varying the aromatic building blocks while keeping isatin unchanged, we tailored critical structural features such as repeating unit chain length, molecular planarity, rotational flexibility, and inter-segmental interactions. The resulting polymers were comprehensively characterized in terms of their thermal and mechanical stability, fractional free volume, and chain packing arrangements, enabling a detailed evaluation of how structural differences affect gas separation performance. Differences in gas transport properties arising from the choice of building blocks were further clarified through structural analyses. Notably, the polymer membrane containing planar building blocks showed the highest H₂/CO₂selectivity, attributed to its reduced symmetry and relatively polar nature. In contrast, the microporous polymer with restricted rotational mobility exhibited superior dimensional stability and strong resistance to plasticization, thereby maintaining robustness under gas separation conditions. Collectively, these findings provide fundamental insights into the structure–property relationships of isatin-based microporous polymers and establish design principles for developing efficient and stable membrane materials for gas separation.