Hypercrosslinked polymer-based solid acid catalysts are promising alternatives to homogeneous equivalents due to their low-costs and ease of separation from reaction products. Here, we present the use of a dual polymerisation catalyst and sulfonation agent in the simple bottom-up synthesis of highly effective hypercrosslinked solid acid catalysts. 

Excellent control over the resulting polymers porous properties and sulfonation density are exhibited, demonstrating broad and judicious catalyst design. The ability of these polymers to act as solid acid catalysts is shown for a number of new routes to important organic transformations using heterogeneous acid catalysts, as well as known model reactions for broad literature comparison.