Synthesis of well-defined ester-linked covalent organic polymer and its potential applications in C–H bond activation.

[Display omitted] • Use of non-toxic/least toxic chemicals. • Generation of least studied ester-linked covalent organic polymer. • Crystalline nanosheet generation (average crystallite size = 43.5 nm, crystallinity = 90.5 %). • Excellent photocatalytic activity with high selectivity for C-H activation and C-C bond formation reaction. Among all polymeric materials, the chemistry of covalent organic polymers has been the least covered in the field of photocatalysis due to the rare availability of design and synthetic protocols. In the present work, we have come up with an efficient design of a one-dimensional Covalent Organic polymer (COP) (S-COP) through the ester-linked co-polymerization of Erythrosine B with 2,2′-Dithiodibenzoic acid (2,2′-DDB). The COP was synthesized via the facile one-pot solvothermal method. The XRD data analysis favors high crystalline nanoscale polymeric sheet generation (S-COP , 90.5 % & 43.5 nm). The HOMO-LUMO calculation through an electrochemical study as well as Tauc's plot showed 2.1 eV band gap. In this order, S-COP , a metal-free polymeric material was observed as an effective photocatalyst in the solar-driven photocatalytic reaction of heteroarenes with aryl diazonium salts via direct C-H arylation (High yield (∼98 %), and high selectivity (∼98 %)). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]