A novel low-temperature dendritic cyclotrimerization of 2,6-diacetyl pyridine leading to mesoporous carbon containing pyridine rings

A simple, direct synthesis of a mesoporous carbon containing pyridine rings is described. This synthesis utilizes the SiCl4 induced cyclotrimerization of 2,6-diacetylpyridine to make a dendritic polymer, built of alternating benzene and pyridine rings. The cyclotrimerization allows for a high degree of crosslinking to take place at low temperatures stabilizing the mesostructure and allowing the carbonization to be carried out at only 600 °C, the lowest temperature reported to date for an N-doped mesoporous carbon. The functional mesoporous carbon so formed was found to have a surface area of 1275 m2/g, 35 Å pores, and contain 6.8% N. XPS reveals two N-containing species, with the predominant species being pyridine N.