Dissolution and Performing Homogeneous Photocatalysis of Polymeric Carbon Nitride

As a metal-free conjugated polymer, carbon nitride (CN) has attracted tremendous attention as heterogeneous (photo)catalysts. By following prototype of enzymes, making all catalytic sites of accessible via homogeneous reactions is a promising approach toward maximizing CN activity, but hindered due to the poor insolubility of CN. Herein, we report the dissolution of CN in environment-friendly methane sulfonic acid and the homogeneous photocatalysis driven by CN for the first time with the activity boosted up to 10-times, comparing to the heterogeneous counterparts. Moreover, facile recycling and reusability, the hallmark of heterogeneous catalysts, were kept for the homogeneous CN photocatalyst via reversible precipitation using poor solvents. It opens new vista of CN in homogeneous catalysis and offers a successful example of polymeric catalysts in bridging gaps of homo/heterogeneous catalysis.