Construction of Hollow Structured Covalent Organic Framework with Chiral Internal Catalytic Sites for Asymmetric Hydrogenation

The functionality of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) is usually highly related to their morphologies. Among various morphologies, the hollow-structured COFs have recently attracted intense attention due to their unique properties. Herein, the synthesis of hollow structured COFs are first reported with the chiral internal sites via combining the chiral templating method with the acid etching approach. After Rh(III)-metalation by postsynthetic modification, the generated hollow spherical CCOFs can be powerful chiral nanoreactors to highly promote the asymmetric hydrogenation of acetophenones in aqueous phase under mild conditions. The hollow structured heterosurface CCOFs may open a new way for their application in asymmetric catalysis.