The chemical fixation of CO2 under mild reaction conditions is of significance from a sustainable chemistry viewpoint. Herein a CO2-reactive protic ionic liquid (PIL), [HDBU(+)][TFE(-)], was designed by neutralization of the superbase 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) with a weak proton donor trifluoroethanol (TFE). As a bifunctional catalyst for simultaneously activating CO2 and the substrate, this PIL displayed excellent performance in catalyzing the reactions of CO2 with 2-aminobenzonitriles at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, thus producing a series of quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones in excellent yields.

The synthesis of hierarchically mesoporous polymers with multiple functionalities is challenging. Herein we reported a template-free strategy for synthesis of phenolic azo-polymers with hierarchical porous structures based on diazo-coupling reaction in aqueous solution under mild conditions. The resultant polymers have surface areas up to 593 m(2)  g(-1) with the mesopore ratio of >80 %, and a good ability to complex with metal ions, such as Cu(2+) , Zn(2+) ,Ni(2+) , achieving a metal loading up to 26.24 wt %. Moreover, the polymers complexed with Zn showed excellent performance for catalyzing the reaction of CO2 with epoxide, affording a TOF of 2570 h(-1) in the presence of tetrabutyl ammonium bromide (7.2 mol %). The polymer complexed with Cu could catalyze the oxidation of alcohol with high efficiency.

Visible‐light‐driven photoreduction of CO2 to energy‐rich chemicals in the presence of H2O without any sacrifice reagent is of significance, but challenging. Herein, Eosin Y‐functionalized porous polymers (PEosinY‐N, N=1–3), with high surface areas up to 610 m2 g−1, are reported. They exhibit high activity for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CO in the presence of gaseous H2O, without any photosensitizer or sacrifice reagent, and under visible‐light irradiation. Especially, PEosinY‐1 derived from coupling of Eosin Y with 1,4‐diethynylbenzene shows the best performance for the CO2 photoreduction, affording CO as the sole carbonaceous product with a production rate of 33 μmol g−1 h−1 and a selectivity of 92 %. This work provides new insight for designing and fabricating photocatalytically active polymers with high efficiency for solar‐energy conversion.