ABSTRACT Solid acids have drawn growing attention in catalysis when compared with traditional liquid acids. They exhibit broad application potential due to their facile product separation, excellent reusability, and non‐corrosive properties, which are in line with the principles of green chemistry. Among these materials, porous organic polymers (POPs)‐based solid acid catalysts are especially attractive because of their excellent chemical stability and flexible structural tunability. Nevertheless, the extensive development of POP‐based solid acids is restricted by the arduous monomer synthesis and high cost. Herein, we synthesized two kinds of solid acid catalysts by making use of cost‐effective industrial organic solid wastes, such as anthracene residue from high‐temperature coal tar and sodium lignosulfonate, a by‐product of the pulp and paper industry. The structure and acid density of the catalysts were accurately adjusted by changing the types of crosslinkers and sulfonation conditions. Using 4,4'‐bis(chloromethyl) biphenyl as crosslinker afforded well‐developed porous structures with high acid densities of 3.25 mmol g −1 (AR‐BCMB‐SO 3 H) and 3.39 mmol g −1 (LS‐BCMB‐SO 3 H). In the esterification of oleic acid with methanol, catalysts showed excellent catalytic activity and cycling stability, maintaining high performance over 5 consecutive cycles. This work offers insights into cost‐effective resource utilization and the functional modification of porous organic polymers.
Sun et al. (Sun,) studied this question.