C. Stevens

Porous organic polymers (POPs), and especially covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs), are being developed as the next generation of metal-free heterogeneous photocatalysts. However, many of the current synthetic routes to obtain these photoactive POPs require expensive monomers and rely on precious metal catalysts, thus hindering their widespread implementation. In this work, a range of POPs was synthesized from simple unfunctionalized aromatic building blocks, through Lewis acidcatalyzed polymerization. The obtained materials were applied, for the first time, as heterogeneous photocatalysts for the aromatization of N-heterocycles. With the use of the most active material, denoted as CTF-Pyr, which consists of photoactive pyrene and triazine moieties, a wide range of pyridines, dihydroquinoline-5-ones, tetrahydroacridine-1,8-diones and pyrazoles were obtained in excellent yields (70-99%). Moreover, these reactions were carried out under very mild conditions using air and at room temperature, highlighting the potential of these materials as catalysts for green transformations.

Efficient catalysis is essential from a green chemistry perspective. Porous organic polymers (POPs) have recently emerged as highly effective materials for catalytic applications. POPs possess controllable compositions and functionalities, high surface areas and can be very stable. In this review we focus on the application of POPs as metal free heterogeneous organocatalysts, a booming field in green chemistry. Acid, base, combined acid-base and hydrogen bonding catalysis are addressed. In addition, chiral catalysis and CO2 utilization with POPs are discussed. The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the field, exploring all different types of POPs as metal free catalysts. Special attention is given to the synthesis conditions to provide the reader with more insight into the construction of these types of materials.

In the quest for 3,3-dichloro-β-lactam building blocks, the serendipitous formation of 2,2-dichloro-N-(chloromethyl)acetamides was observed. This peculiar reactivity was investigated in detail, both experimentally and computationally by means of Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. 2,2-Dichloro-N-(chloromethyl)acetamides were thus shown to be formed experimentally through reaction of 2,2-dichloroacetyl chloride with glyceraldehyde-derived imines, i. e. (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methanimines, bearing aromatic N-substituents, in the presence as well as in the absence of a base. Deployment of aliphatic imines, however, resulted in complex reaction mixtures, pointing to the importance of a stabilizing aromatic substituent at nitrogen. The DFT results indicate that the substituents can alter the governing equilibria on the one hand and intrinsic barrier heights for the different routes on the other hand, showing that these are controlling the reaction outcome. Furthermore, the 2,2-dichloro-N-(chloromethyl)acetamides proved to be rather unstable in solution and thus difficult to isolate. Nonetheless, their molecular structure was confirmed by means of NMR analysis of several purified analogs and X-ray study of a 4-methoxyphenyl derivative.