Facile preparation of tetraphenylethylene-based porous polymer with dual role of adsorption and detection for trinitrotoluene

A novel porous polymer, denoted as tetraphenylethene-based porous polymer (PTPEK), was synthesized via a catalyst-free C–O coupling reaction. The unique combination of dipole-π interactions and π-π interactions within PTPEK facilitated exceptional adsorption property towards trinitrotoluene (TNT). Furthermore, the incorporation of tetraphenylethene groups, which exhibit aggregation-induced emission (AIE) activity, endowed PTPEK with remarkable TNT detection capability. Simultaneously, PTPEK showed excellent selective adsorption capability and outstanding selective fluorescence detection performance for TNT. At room temperature (298 K), PTPEK demonstrated a maximum TNT adsorption capacity of 209.2 mg g−1, reaching 65 % of its adsorption equilibrium within just 1 h. Additionally, PTPEK exhibited a rapid quenching time of 125 s for TNT, with a low detection limit of 4.56 × 10−6 mol/L. Notably, PTPEK also displayed excellent recyclability characteristics.