Carbazolic Porous Organic Framework as an Efficient, Metal-Free Visible-Light Photocatalyst for Organic Synthesis

• Published in: ACS catalysis Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 2250 - 2254
• Main Authors: Luo, Jian, Zhang, Xiang, Zhang, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 03-04-2015
• Subjects: porous organic framework; carbazole; heterogeneous catalysis; photocatalysis; metal-free
• ISSN: 2155-5435; 2155-5435
• DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.5b00025

We report the visible-light-promoted photocatalytic activity of a highly porous carbazolic organic framework, Cz-POF-1, toward three prototypic organic transformations: net reductive dehalogenation of phenacyl bromide and its derivatives, net oxidative hydroxylation of arylboronic acids, and redox-neutral α-alkylation of aldehydes. We show that the extended π-conjugation in Cz-POF-1 enhances its visible light absorption, and the large porosity accelerates the reaction rate. For α-alkylation of aldehydes, Cz-POF-1 requires less strict reaction conditions and can be easily recovered and reused for up to 10 times. This work reveals a bright future for Cz-POFs as a new generation of metal-free photocatalysts for organic synthesis.