A Covalent Organic Polymer Containing Dative Nitrogen→Boron Bonds: Preparation, Single-Crystal Structure, and Photoresponse/Photocatalytic Performance

Design and realization of covalent organic polymers (COPs) with precise structure are challenging yet interesting. Herein, light-yellow single crystals of a novel 1D COP (named as CityU-32 ) containing the dative nitrogen→boron bonds through the assembly between trigonal-planar boronic esters (derived from catechol and benzene-1,3,5-triyltriboronic acid) and 2,6-di(pyridine-4-yl)naphthalene are prepared. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis shows that CityU-32 features a novel chain-like zigzag structure with a multichain stacking feature, where the adjacent chains are stacked together and interlocked each other with a double hydrogen bonding interaction formed from the boronic ester units. Additionally, CityU-32 has been demonstrated to show some potential applications in the field of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production.