Hyper-Cross-Linked Porous Porphyrin Aluminum(III) Tetracarbonylcobaltate as a Highly Active Heterogeneous Bimetallic Catalyst for the Ring-Expansion Carbonylation of Epoxides.

Development of an industrially viable catalyst for the ring-expansion carbonylation of epoxides remains challenging in the view of facile product separation and recyclability. Herein, we report a heterogenized porous porphyrin Al(III) tetracarbonylcobaltate bimetallic catalyst for the ring-expansion carbonylation of epoxides. The catalyst was synthesized using a hyper-cross-linking strategy involving methylene bridges introduced by the Friedel-Crafts reaction and incorporated with cobaltate anions. The catalyst effectively converts epoxides into the corresponding β-lactones with an excellent site time yield of 360 h-1, which is comparable to that of the corresponding homogeneous catalysts and is the highest of any heterogeneous catalyst reported so far for this reaction.