HIPE Polymerization Materials Functionalized with Iodic-BODIPY on the Surface as Porous Heterogeneous Visible-Light Photocatalysts.

A high internal phase emulsion polymerization (PolyHIPE) material, with iodine-functionalized boron-dipyrromethene (iodic-BODIPY) immobilized on its surface, composes a porous heterogeneous organic photocatalyst (iodic-BODIPY-PolyHIPE). It shows high catalytic efficiency on the selective oxidation reaction of aromatic sulfides under visible light. The substrates were almost fully converted to their corresponding sulfoxides and no sulfones were observed. Most importantly, iodic-BODIPY-PolyHIPE shows >1.6-fold reaction rate compared to the previous non-inorganic heterogeneous photocatalysts.