Organic Cotton Photocatalysis

Cotton fiber is an abundant natural material, which has a long history of application in human daily life. However, a report on using such material in catalysis for organic synthesis is rare. We envisaged that the hydroxyl groups on the surface of cotton fiber could be utilized for functionalization and further immobilization of organic catalysts. In this report, we demonstrate the facile functionalization of cotton fiber by growing polymer brushes on its surface and further anchoring of Rose Bengal (RB) organic photocatalyst. This novel composite cotton photocatalyst demonstrated high efficiency in catalyzing cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions and N-demethylation reactions with irradiation of visible light. The catalytic reaction can be facilely scaled up by a homemade circulating flow reactor.