Cobalt-salen-based porous ionic polymers, which are composed of cobalt and halogen anions decorated on the framework, effectively catalyze the CO2 cycloaddition reaction of epoxides to cyclic carbonates under ambient conditions. The cooperative effect of bifunctional active sites of cobalt as the Lewis acidic site and the halogen anion as the nucleophile responds to the high catalytic performance. Moreover, density functional theory results indicate that the cobalt valence state and the corresponding coordination group influence the rate-determining step of the CO2 cycloaddition reaction and the nucleophilicity of halogen anions.
Keywords: CO2 conversion; cobalt−salen; nucleophilicity; porous ionic polymer; valence.