Biomimetic supported catalyst inspired by stalked crinoid

Supported catalysis is considered as an ideal catalytic mode as it combines the advantages of homogeneous catalysis (activity and selectivity) and heterogeneous catalysis (separation and recyclability). However, its application is greatly limited by the loss of catalytic performance after immobilization of molecular catalyst on supports. Inspired by the upright feeding posture of stalked crinoids—characterized by outstretched arms with ordered pinnules extending away from the substrate—we addressed this issue by immobilizing of a linear polymer catalyst decorated with aluminum porphyrin on silica. Our catalyst demonstrates remarkable productivity (62.4 kg polyols/g Al porphyrin), polymer selectivity (99%) and proton tolerance (320,000 equiv. to [Al]) under highly dilute conditions (0.000125 mol [Al]%, 17.8 ppm) for telomerization of CO2 and epoxides, which is greatly improved compared to traditional systems. Furthermore, our catalyst exhibits stability and maintains catalytic performance after three cycles. Our strategy provides a rational approach to designing highly efficient supported catalysts. Supported catalysts typically show reduced performance following their immobilisation on solid supports. Here, the authors report a supported polymeric catalyst which shows high productivity and selectivity for the synthesis of polyols from CO2 and epoxides.