Incorporation of Fe-phthalocyanines into a porous organic framework for highly efficient photocatalytic oxidation of arylalkanes

DMetallophthalocyanines (MPcs) are a class of bioinspired artificial aromatic macrocycles with unique properties of excellent visible light absorption and remarkable photocatalytic activity. However, the catalytic efficiency of MPcs is heavily diminished by strong intermolecular pi-pi self-aggregation. To solve the self-aggregation problem and realize highly efficient photocatalysis, we develop a strategy to immobilize MPc moieties into porous organic polymers (POPs). The solvothermal reaction between four-branched tetra-amine FePc (TAFP) and three-connected 1,3,5-triformylbenzene (TFB) results in a 3D porous organic material CZJ-30, consisting of highly photoactive FePc moieties. CZJ-30 demonstrates high photoactivity and stability in photoxidation of arylalkanes under visible light irradiation, in which 95% ethylbenzene conversion, > 99% acetophenone selectivity and 11,950 turnovers have been realized for photoxidation of ethylbenzene. Compared with its molecular counterpart Fe-Pc, CZJ-30 exhibits superior photocatalytic properties, and offers significant superiority of robustness to self-oxidation and simple recovery for recycling with persisted high photocatalytic efficiency.