Functional porous carbons: Synthetic strategies and catalytic application in fine chemical synthesis

Abstract Porous carbon materials are considered extremely versatile and environmental friendly. These materials have found application in many and distinct fields such as energy generation and storage, water treatment including adsorption of emergent pollutants, NOx removal, biomedical engineering, and catalysis, among other research fields. Porous carbon is a long known material, but advances in material science, in solid state chemistry, and with technology constantly rendering new and more sophisticated equipment, these materials have witnessed constant development. The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the development and use of porous carbon materials showing very different structure, morphology, and composition focusing on their applications for fine chemical synthesis. A summarized presentation on the synthetic methodologies ranging from more traditional approaches to more modern and emergent porous carbons is then followed by a presentation of their applications in catalysis for fine chemical synthesis.