Development of metal-free organic photocatalyst for environmental remediation

Abstract

Self-assembled covalent organic polymers (COPs) have gained significant attention in diverse applications. Orienting from nanoscale morphology with high surface area and lower band gap COPs arise as an efficient catalytic material for various redox transformations. The polydiacetylene (PDA) based COPs (PDA-COPs) show optical and electronic properties. In this study, 1,3-diacetylene symmetric monomer covalently linked with biomolecules like phenylalanine and adenine i.e. F-DA-F and A-DA-A have been synthesized. Due to various interactions like hydrogen bonding, π-π and hydrophobic interactions, F-DA-F self-assembles to form the supramolecular nanofibrous network and undergoes polymerization under UV irradiation (15 minutes, 254 nm) to form conjugated polydiacetylene functionalized covalent organic polymer (PDA-F-COP). The monomer of A-DA-A undergoes polymerization under UV irradiation to form PDA-ACOP. The resulting metal-free PDA-F-COP shows efficient catalytic properties under UV irradiation for dye degradation.