Solar Light Driven H2O2 Production and Selective Oxidations Using a Covalent Organic Framework Photocatalyst Prepared by a Multicomponent Reaction

A chemically stable 2D microporous COF (PMCR-1) was synthesized via the multicomponent Povarov reaction. PMCR-1 exhibits a remarkable and long-term stable photocatalytic H2O2 production rate (60 h) from pure and sea water under visible light. The H2O2 production is markedly enhanced when benzyl alcohol (BA) is added as reductant, which is also due to a strong pi-pi interaction of BA with dangling phenyl moieties in the COF pores introduced by the multicomponent Povarov reaction. Motivated by the concomitant BA oxidation to benzaldehyde during H2O2 formation, the photocatalytic oxidation of various organic substrates such as benzyl amine and methyl sulfide derivatives was investigated. It is shown that the well-defined micropores of PMCR-1 enable size-selective photocatalytic oxidation.