In an exciting communication heralding the discovery of a useful new class of materials, chemists at the University of Manchester introduce 'polymers of intrinsic microporosity'.

Neil McKeown and his co-workers have developed organic polymers with rigid and contorted structures that cannot pack closely together in an ordered fashion; instead, they form a porous arrangement. Because this intrinsic porosity survives heating and other processing, and the polymers dissolve easily, the new materials have many potential technological advantages, note the authors.

The new polymers can be fabricated into self-standing, robust films that can be used 'as effective membranes for the removal of organics from water' and 'as selective adsorbents for toxic compounds'.

Caroline Evans