Azo‐bridged hydroxyl‐rich porous pillar[5]arene polymers for efficient carbon dioxide conversion

Abstract

AbstractTwo new azo‐bridged hydroxyl‐rich porous organic polymers (POPs), named PPDA‐P5 and TB‐P5, were designed and successfully fabricated via azo‐coupling reaction with per‐hydroxylated pillar[5]arene macrocycle as the core and p‐phenylenediamine and Troger's base (TB) diamine as the linker, respectively. Owing to the abundant nitrogen and hydroxyl groups, both polymers exhibited excellent interaction affinity toward carbon dioxide (CO2) and then were applied as efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the transformation of CO2 to cyclic carbonates with high yield, even under mild conditions. Interestingly, TB‐P5 exhibited superior catalytic performance toward PPDA‐P5, indicating TB's positive role as an organic base. This design strategy and results provided new insight into the development of macrocycle‐based POPs in the field of heterogeneous catalysis.