Porous metal-metalloporphyrin gel as catalytic binding pocket for highly efficient synergistic catalysis

Synergistic catalysis occurring in an enzyme pocket shows enhanced performance through supramolecular recognition and flexibility. This study presents an aerogel capable of similar function by fabricating a gel catalyst with hierarchical porosity. Here, the as-prepared Co-MMPG, a Co(II) metal-metalloporphyrin gel, maintains enough conformational flexibility and features a binding pocket formed from the co-facial arrangement of the porphyrin rings, as elucidated through the combined studies of solid-state NMR and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). The cooperativity between two Co(II) sites within the defined nanospace pocket facilitates the binding of different substrates with a favourable geometry thereby rendering Co-MMPG with excellent performance in the context of synergistic catalysis, especially for the kinetic control stereoselective reactions. Our work thus contributes a different enzyme-mimic design strategy to develop a highly efficient heterogeneous catalyst with high chemo/stereo selectivity.