Subphthalocyanine-based conjugated porous polymers for efficient singlet oxygen generation

Two Subphthalocyanine (SubPc)-based conjugated porous polymers, SubPc-P1 and SubPc-P2, have been designed and synthesized by A3+B2 and A4+B2 type Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction, in which the axial coupling is absent and present, respectively. These two polymers exhibit Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface areas of 434 m²/g and 106 m²/g, respectively. Combining the porosity with strong light harvesting capability, SubPc-P1 and SubPc-P2 can efficiently absorb long-wavelength photons even in near-infrared region to generate singlet oxygen rapidly. In addition, compared with SubPc-P2, SubPc-P1 shows red-shifted light absorption and larger specific surface area, which agrees well with the better singlet oxygen generation ability upon irradiation at 690 nm.