The project involves a class of porous organic coordination solids, in which pore size and functional surface character can be modified without the loss of the porous backbone structure. These solids are currently constructed from branched phenylacetylene nitriles linked together through nitrile-noble metal coordination bonds. The goal of the project is the iterative replacement of the nitrile-metal coordination bond with purely covalent linkages between the organic moieties. It is proposed to synthesize chemically reactive phenyl acetylene alcohol molecules capable of being cross-linked to one another in the porous state through addition of cross-linking agents such as diidocyanates and disilyltriflates. Two parallel synthetic strategies will be pursued. In the first strategy, reactive monomeric organic building blocks will be held into the desired porous structure through coordination bonding, using templates. The species will then be cross-linked to one another without loss of porous structure. In the second strategy, oligomers will be pre-assembled from the organic building blocks prior to cross-linking to form porous covalent solids. The construction of organic solids of desired topology is based on the interplay between molecular and crystalline structure. It is also envisioned to consider another paradigm in mapping molecular to crystalline shape. This paradigm is that of minimal surfaces. The interfacial free energy in a porous solid between its crystalline and solvent portions is high and hence adopts minimal surface areas subject to constrains caused by the molecular architecture. This design principle will be used to make three-dimensional porous solids of the double diamond or gyroid type. These regions will be accessed by controlling the local backbone geometry and by dictating the backbone to channel volume ratios through the addition of flexible pendent chains to the initial shape persistent molecules. % % % The robust organic porous solids, with tunable cavity sizes, should be capable of withstanding conditions necessary for possible applications, among them separation and catalysis. ***