Task-Specific Design of Porous Polymer Heterogeneous Catalysts beyond Homogeneous Counterparts

Porous organic polymers (POPs), which feature high surface areas and designable pore walls, have attracted much attention recently as a result of combining the advantages of both heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts. Because of the diversity of chemical reactions, one could design polymer frameworks with unique functionalities used as active sites and ligands in catalysis. In the view of green chemistry, this perspective is focused mainly on rational preparation of the porous organic polymers under metal-free conditions and their applications in heterogeneous catalysis. It is observed that many POP-based heterogeneous catalysts demonstrate superior catalytic properties, even better than the homogeneous counterparts. The strategies for designing highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts are briefly assessed.