Metalloporphyrin-Based Biomimetic Catalysis: Applications, Modifications and Flexible Microenvironment Influences (A Review)

The application of metalloporphyrin in the field of catalysis is one of the hotspots currently by the domestic and foreign scholars. The chemists have been able to successfully mimic several types of oxidation reactions using metalloporphyrin as catalyst. At first, homogeneous system presents the most amenable strategy for oxidizing a vast array of substrates, for example, catalytic oxidation of small molecules, ring-opening polymerization of cyclic compounds and photo-induced electron transfer reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, etc. However, as homogeneous catalyst, metalloporphyrin has some limitations such as poor stability, easy deactivation, difficult separation, high cost and environmental concerns, which have directed research in this field to the design, synthesis, and applications of heterogeneous catalyst. Transforming metalloporphyrin into heterogeneous catalyst with stable chemical properties, excellent catalytic performances and special constructions have been the focus of research and practical application in the field of catalysis. Herein, in this review, we summarize the most important advances made by the scientific community in various catalytic applications and heterogeneous techniques of metalloporphyrin in the past ten years. We emphasize the applications of such catalysts on the oxidation reactions of many relevant substrates using homogeneous and heterogeneous metalloporphyrin-based catalyst, and we discuss the activity and stability of heterogeneous metalloporphyrin, as well as procedures. Moreover, the influences of flexible microenvironment formed by heterogeneous metalloporphyrin-based catalyst on the photo-catalytic behavior are discussed in this review.