HCAII-inspired catalysts for making carbon dioxide-based copolymers: The role of metal-hydroxide bond

O/S Exchange Reaction in Synthesizing Sulfur-Containing Polymers

Using carbon disulfide (CS2) and carbonyl sulfide (COS) as sulfur-containing and one-carbon feedstocks to make value-added products is paramount for both pure and applied chemistry and environmental science. One of the practical strategies is to copolymerize these bulk chemicals with epoxides to produce sulfur-containing polymers. This approach contributes to improving the sustainability of polymer manufacturing, provides highly desired functional polymer materials, and has attracted much attention. However, these copolymerizations invariably exhibit the intensely complicated chemistry of O/S exchange reaction, leading to sulfur-containing polymers with diverse architectures. As the understanding of O/S exchange continues to deepen, recent efforts have guided significant advances in the synthesis of CS2- and COS-based polymers. This review examines the O/S exchange chemistry and summarizes the recent progress in this field to promote the further advance of synthesizing sulfur-containing polymers from CS2 and COS.

Photoactive Metal-Organic Framework for the Reduction of Aryl Halides by the Synergistic Effect of Consecutive Photoinduced Electron-Transfer and Hydrogen-Atom-Transfer Processes

Consecutive photoinduced electron transfer (ConPET) has advantages on overcoming the current energetic limitation of visible-light photoredox catalysis for utilizing the energies of two photons in one catalytic cycle. A heterogeneous approach for radical chain reduction of various aryl bromides and chlorides without adding any cocatalyst is introduced by incorporating polyoxometalates (POMs) and amine catalysts into a naphthalenediimide (NDI)-based polymer. CoW-DPNDI-PYI exhibits high activity in the photocatalytic reduction of aryl halides by the synergistic effects of ConPET and hydrogen-atom-transfer (HAT) processes and an enzyme-mimicking CO₂ cycloaddition reaction. The ConPET process with N,N'-bis(4-pyridylmethyl)naphthalenediimide (DPNDI) facilitates effective solar energy conversion. POMs and amine catalysts, as efficient HAT catalysts and electron donors, improve the generation of the ConPET process. The success of this work demonstrates the great application of the synergistic effects of ConPET and HAT processes in heterogeneous photocatalysis C-H arylation.

Repurposing poly(monothiocarbonate)s to poly(thioether)s with organic bases

This work reports a unique one-pot/one-step route to rapidly produce poly(thioether)s from poly(monothiocarbonate) (PMTC), a sulfur-containing polymer, using commercially available organic bases.

Triethyl borane-regulated selective production of polycarbonates and cyclic carbonates for the coupling reaction of CO2 with epoxides

The copolymerization of CO₂ and epoxides bearing phenyl group is achieved by the combination of Lewis bases and excess triethyl borane that decides the selectivity.