Hydrogen Bonding Regulated Microenvironments in Covalent Organic Frameworks for Photocatalytic H 2 O 2 Generation and C–H Annulation
Abstract
Hydrogen bonding, as a subtle yet powerful noncovalent interaction, plays a critical role in steering proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) processes; however, its influence within photocatalytic covalent organic frameworks (COFs) has remained underexplored. Here, we present a molecular-level regulation of isoreticular COFs incorporating pyridine- and pyrimidine-based linkers in which the positional arrangement of nitrogen atoms is deliberately modulated to construct distinct hydrogen-bonding microenvironments. As a result, Tp-4,6-Pm exhibits a 7-fold enhancement in H 2 O 2 generation rate compared to Tp-2,6-Pd, achieving a notable solar-to-chemical conversion (SCC) efficiency of 1.48%. Mechanistic studies reveal that hydrogen bonding networks facilitate the generation of surface-bound hydrogen (H ad ) and stabilize the *OOH intermediate, thereby lowering the energetic barriers for H 2 O 2 photosynthesis. Furthermore, the optimized microenvironment promotes efficient superoxide ( • O 2 – ) formation, enabling α-amino C–H annulation with high reactivity. This hydrogen-bonding-regulated microenvironment strategy provides a generalizable approach for activating PCET processes in COFs, offering a powerful design principle for next-generation photocatalytic systems.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
CO2 Reduction Techniques and Catalysts
Publication details
- Journal / source
- ACS Energy Letters
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 2235–2246
- Publication date
- 15 January 2026
- Language
- EN