A novel strategy of constructing an artificial light-harvesting system based on a supramolecular organic framework for photocatalysis

A supramolecular organic framework (SOF) was fabricated based on the tetraphenylethylene derivative MV-TPE with four methylated viologen units, tetraphenylethylene derivative NA-TPE with four methoxynaphthyl units, and cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]) through encapsulation-enhanced donor-acceptor interaction. When the hydrophobic dye 4,7-bis(thien-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DBT) is introduced into the aqueous solution of a SOF, an efficient energy transfer process can take place from the SOF to DBT. In addition, after the addition of amphoteric sulforhodamine 101 (SR101), a two-step sequential energy transfer process can occur from the SOF to DBT and then to SR101. Furthermore, a white emission with the CIE coordinate of (0.31, 0.32) can be realized by the direct addition of SR101 to the SOF. Moreover, to utilize the harvested energy from the SOF + DBT + SR101 system, we tried to apply the SOF-based light-harvesting systems (LHSs) as a catalyst to advance the aerobic cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) reaction in water. To our delight, under the promotion of 0.45 mol% catalyst, the yield of the reaction reached 87%, which exhibited the promising potential of SOF-based LHSs in the promotion of the CDC reaction.