Chiral Porous Organic Polymers (CPOPs): Design, Synthesis and Applications in Asymmetric Catalysis

Since the recognition of the area of asymmetric synthesis in 2000, there has been a tremendous focus on the development of heterogeneous catalysts for asymmetric synthesis. Porous organic polymers (POPs) have emerged in recent years as inextricable materials of high physicochemical and hydrolytic stabilities, permitting infinite possibilities to modulate and tune reactivity, engineer porosity, regulate spatial environments and pore attributes, and manoeuver material transport. With a diligent design of building blocks and the exploitation of organic reactions judiciously, the synthesis of POPs with BET surface areas of the order of a few thousand cm3/g has been demonstrated. The incorporation of reactive functional groups and chiral centres into the porous matrices of polymers offers opportunities to conduct asymmetric synthesis. Very high enantioselectivities of the order of 99% ee have been exemplified in the reactions mediated by chiral POPs (CPOPs). The design-driven tunability of POPs allows the development of catalytic materials for targeted applications in a tailor-made fashion. This review, while placing the development of chiral materials for asymmetric synthesis in the right perspective, delves into different design principles to pave the way for continued research on futuristic CPOP materials by a creative design, limited by one's imagination, for heretofore unprecedented results.