Two cobaltous PCPs: rapid catalytic degradation of POPs coupled with remarkable antibacterial and antifungal properties†

In this work, we report the synthesis of two cobalt-based porous coordination polymers (PCPs): [Co₃(BTC)₂(H₂O)₁₂]_n (1) and [Co₃(BTC)₂(DMP)₈]_n (2) [where BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate and DMP = 3,5-dimethylpyrazole]. These compounds were characterized using a range of physicochemical techniques, including UV-DRS, FT-IR, SCXRD, PXRD, TGA, and FE-SEM/EDX. The synthesized PCPs effectively catalyzed the degradation of various persistent organic pollutants (POPs) rapidly, which includes both cationic and anionic dyes such as Malachite Green (MG), Methylene Blue (MB), Indigo Carmine (IC), Methyl Orange (MO), Orange G (OG), and Eriochrome Black T (EBT). They also have excellent efficacy in degrading nitroaromatics viz. 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP), and 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (2,4,6-TNP) in the presence of NaBH₄ as a reductant. In addition, these PCPs exhibited remarkable antibacterial and antifungal properties, demonstrating strong activity against bacterial strains such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis, as well as the fungal strain Candida albicans. These results indicate that these two PCPs have considerable potential for catalyzing the rapid degradation of POPs, while also showing promising biological activities, offering substantial opportunities for future research.