Efficient Catalysis and Iodine Sequestration Using Octavinyl Silsesquioxane Decorated with Triphenylphosphine-Based Nanoporous Organic Polymers

Advancing sustainable chemical technologies requires the development of multifunctional porous materials that combine catalytic activity and environmental remediation features. In this study, we report the synthesis of a porous organic polymer (POP) that can be used as both heterogeneous catalyst (for organic reactions) and a solid adsorbent (for iodine sequestration from various media). Specifically, the POP (OVS-Phos) is a hyper-cross-linked polymer (HCP) that was easily obtained using commercially available triphenylphosphine (TPP) and octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS). For catalytic applications, we metalated the pristine OVS-Phos to yield Pd@OVS-Phos; the latter was tested as a heterogeneous catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions. Indeed, Pd@OVS-Phos could efficiently catalyze the formation of various biaryl compounds via Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling of substituted aryl boronic acids and aryl halides under benign conditions. These reactions were successful even with a low palladium loading of 1.13 mol %. Furthermore, the OVS-Phos could remarkably capture iodine from the vapor phase (up to 1.68 g/g) and from an aqueous medium (1.25 g/g). The OVS-Phos and Pd@OVS-Phos can be recycled for at least five cycles and used on a large-scale with negligible loss in activity.