Synthesis of insoluble polystyrene-supported flavins and their catalysis in aerobic reduction of olefins

2’,4’-p-Vinylbenzylideneriboflavin (2’,4’-PVBRFl) was prepared as a flavin-containing monomer and copolymerized with divinylbenzene and styrene or its p-substituted derivatives such as 4-acetoxystyrene, 4-vinylbenzyl alcohol, and 4-vinylbenzoic acid to give the corresponding non-functionalized and functionalized PS-DVB-supported flavins PS(H)-DVB-Fl, PS(OAc)-DVB-Fl, PS(CH2OH)-DVB-Fl, and PS(COOH)-DVB-Fl, respectively. PS(OH)-DVB-Fl was also prepared by hydrolysis of PS(OAc)-DVB-Fl under basic conditions. These novel flavin-containing insoluble polymers exhibited characteristic fluorescence in solid state, except PS(OH)-DVB-Fl, and different catalytic activities in aerobic reduction of olefins by in-situ generated diimide from hydrazine depending on their pendant functional group. For example, PS(H)-DVB-Fl was found to be particularly effective for neutral hydrophobic substrates, which could be readily recovered by a simple filtration and reused more than 10 times without loss in catalytic activity. On the other hand, PS(OH)-DVB-Fl and PS(COOH)-DVB-Fl proved to be highly active for phenolic substrates known to be less reactive in the reaction with conventional non-supported flavin catalysts.