Visible Light‐Driven Carboxylation of Olefins by Using 2D Metal‐Free Covalent Organic Framework as Intrinsic Photocatalyst: A Sustainable Approach for CO2 Utilization

Abstract

AbstractPhotocatalytic metal‐free carboxylation of olefins offers an environment‐friendly approach for resolving the increasing energy issue as well as mitigating the dilemma caused by the greenhouse effect. Carboxylation of styrene and its derivatives by photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction shows great potential for sustainable utilization of greenhouse gas CO2 into valuable chemicals. Herein, we have constructed a highly crystalline and thermally stable 2D porous covalent organic framework (COF) having very low band‐gap energy, 1.8 eV and it shows efficient photocatalytic activity towards the carboxylation of aryl‐alkenes in good yields in presence of p‐terphenyl as a co‐catalyst at ambient temperature under visible light irradiation and 1 atmospheric CO2 pressure which facilitates to overcome the current transition metal catalyzed approaches. In addition, TR‐OT COF is a proficient and highly selective catalyst with outstanding recyclability. This suggests that this COF material is a novel photocatalyst for CO2 reduction towards α, β‐carboxylation of styrene and its derivatives under 20 W light‐emitting diode (LED) light.