Interfacial Polymerization at the Alkane/Ionic Liquid Interface

Polymerization at the liquid–liquid interface has attracted much attention for synthesizing ultrathin polymer films molecular sieving. However, it remains a major challenge to conduct this process outside alkane–water since not only suffers water-caused side reactions but also is limited water-soluble monomers. Here, we report interfacial polymerization alkane/ionic liquid (IP@AILI) where ionic acts as universal solvent diversified amines synthesize task-specific polyamide nanofilms. We propose that IP@AILI occurs when acyl chloride diffuses from alkane into instead of being triggered by diffusion in conventional system, which demonstrated thermodynamic partitioning and kinetic monitoring. The prepared nanofilms with precisely adjustable pore sizes display unprecedented permeability selectivity various separation processes.