Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a family of porous crystalline materials that serve in some cases as versatile platforms for catalysis.
1. Introduction
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) defines MOFs as a coordination network with an open framework containing potential voids
[1]. This emerging class of porous coordination polymers are formed by metal ion or cluster nodes and functional organic ligands, all connected through coordination bonds to form 1D, 2D o 3D networks (
Figure 1)
[2][3][4][5][6]. MOFs can be easily obtained by several different synthetic methods, such as electrochemical
[7], solvothermal
[8] and mechanochemical
[9], slow diffusion
[10], and more recently also by microwave-assisted heating
[11].
Figure 1. Schematic representation of MOFs frameworks with different dimensionalities (3D, 2D, 1D).
The crystal structures of MOFs can be customized depending on the metal and ligand choice as also on the solvents and reaction conditions employed.
[12] Due to the high surface areas
[13] and ultrahigh porosity they are attractive for CH
4, CO
2, and H
2 sorption and storage. Most MOFs have higher volumetric H
2 and CH
4 storage capacities concerning traditional porous materials.
MOFs have been also investigated for their potential applications in biomedicine, for example for drug delivery
[14] and biological imaging
[15], mainly for the possibility to use biocompatible building blocks. MOFs were employed as electrode materials for supercapacitors using Co-based coordination polymers
[16], for magnetic and electronic devices
[17], for water harvesting where H
2O is extracted from the air by solar energy
[18], and finally also for non-linear optics
[19].
The use of MOFs as a catalyst has been widely explored and several applications have been developed, for example in the production of fine chemicals
[20], or the definition of possible new green protocols replacing non-eco-friendly catalysts
[21]. Differences in activity and selectivity toward specific organic reactions are significantly dependent on the MOFs structure
[22]. The main MOFs advantage, when researchers consider their use in catalysis, is in the possibility to design and predict the structural properties based on of linker features, coordination number and geometry of the metal.
The presence of coordinatively unsaturated metal sites, the variety of basic linkers available, the stability to solvents and to reaction conditions, the possibility to host guest molecules within the pores makes MOFs perspective materials for heterogenous catalysis. They have also a lot of advantages concerning other inorganic systems as zeolites and aluminophosphates, i.e., they can be modified using organic synthesis, being possible to decorate their pores with catalytic sites. MOFs can be tailored by a simple change in the initial synthetic conditions or by using post-synthetic reactions. These modifications make MOFs excellent candidates for designing functional materials to allow the attachment of different catalysts
[23].
While the characterization of deposited species upon conventional catalyst supports, such as metal oxides, tends to be challenging due to the non-uniform surface and pore structures of the support, the crystalline nature of MOFs enables visualization of the catalytically active species within the framework, which leads to a detailed characterization of active catalytic sites and provides insight into structure−activity relationships.
Epoxides are important species and intermediates in the production of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and relevant industrial chemicals. In the global market, the production of propylene oxide achieves 8 million tons per year with an expected annual increase of 5%
[24]. Due to the industrial relevance of catalytic oxidation of olefins to fine chemicals, numerous studies have been devoted to the development of efficient homogeneous
[24] and heterogeneous catalysts
[24]. However, high selectivity and enantioselectivity in epoxidation reactions remain a challenge. While recovery and product separation are the main drawbacks for homogenous catalysts, MOFs used as heterogeneous catalysts in the oxidation of olefins have attracted significant attention (
Figure 2)
[25].
Figure 2. General mechanism of epoxidation of alkenes with peroxycarboxylic acid as co-catalyst.
CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and it is the cause of environmental and energy-related problems in the world. Nowadays, the development of new methods is fundamental to capture and convert CO2 into useful chemical products to improve the environment and promote sustainable development. Several studies have been carried out on MOF’s efficiency to capture CO2. The linkers that connect the MOFs metal nodes are the major sites for CO2 binding. The linkers that connect the MOFs metal nodes are the major sites for CO2 binding, and they can be chemically modified with functional groups to increase their interaction with CO2. Moreover, unsaturated metals ions can be introduced in the MOFs structure. A significantly benefit generated from the possibility to have adequate quantities of CO2 in concentrated form within a MOF is the possible use of CO2 as a chemical reagent (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Representation of cycloaddition reaction of CO2, captured by MOFs, to epoxides.
A significant number of MOFs has been recently reported to catalyse the CO2 cycloaddition reaction to epoxides to give cyclic organic carbonates (OCs) and several papers describe the potential and effectiveness of MOFs in this important process, so it is necessary to identify better strategies to build new advanced materials as MOFs or MOF-based species to grow selectivity, capacity, and conversion of this catalytic reaction.
2. Epoxidation with MOF-Based Composites
One possible way to improve the chemical and mechanical stability of MOFs as potentially heterogeneous catalysts is their immobilization onto/into supports. In this contest, solid polymer, graphene, and inorganic particles
[26] or inorganic polymers
[27] are largely employed as supports.
To overcome the poor hydrostability of [Cu
3-BTC
2]
[28], a porous dendrimer-like porous silica nanoparticles (DPSNs) has been utilized as a carrier to support Cu-BTC Nps. The nanocomposites DPSNs@Cu-BTC were prepared by growing Cu
2O NPs in the center-radial porous channels of DPSNs. After that, Cu
2O NPs were dissolved in the presence of acid, oxidant and 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid (H
3BTC)
[29]. The obtained Cu-BTC NPs have shown limited growth and a uniform distribution without agglomeration. The small size of Cu-BTC NPs (40 ± 25 nm) is useful in the aerobic epoxidation of various cyclic olefins achieving high catalytic activity without by-products. Good yield and selectivity were detected with inert terminal linear alkenes. Otherwise, epoxidation of styrene only achieved 65% of conversion due to the kinetic instability of styrene oxide
[30].
The amphiphilic MIL-101-GH, a porous hierarchical material, has been explored as catalyst for the biphasic epoxidation reaction of 1-octene with H
2O
2. MIL-101-GH hydrogel was obtained by dispersing MIL-101 nanoparticles homogeneously in aqueous graphene oxide (GO) solutions. The TS-1 catalyst, commercially used in this biphasic reaction, was then introduced in MIL-101-GH. The resulting system, MIL-101-GH-TS-1, overcame the lower activity toward olefin epoxidation of TS-1, and the amphiphilic MIL-101-GH increased the contact areas of TS-1 with both H
2O
2 and 1-octene. The catalytic performance of MIL-101-GH-TS-1 has been much higher than that of single TS-1 and the 1,2-epoxyoctane was obtained without other by-products
[31].
Polyoxometalate-based (POMs) heterogeneous catalysts are attractive species in the catalytic epoxidation of olefin. They have got great catalytic activity, selectivity, and easy separation but their leaching mainly due to the strong complexing capability of solvent and H
2O
2 oxidants, represents the major obstacle in the possible applications
[32][33]. To overcome the stability issue of POMs, the polyoxomolybdic cobalt (CoPMA) and polyoxomolybdic acid (PMA) species were incorporated into UiO-bpy, a Zr-based MOFs, through self-assembly process under solvothermal condition
[34]. CoPMA@UiO-bpy showed the highest catalytic activity for cyclooctene oxidation with H
2O
2 and also for the oxidation of styrene and 1-octene with O
2 as oxidant and
tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) as initiator. This is due to the uniform distribution and better immobilization of POM clusters within the size-matched cages of Zr-MOFs owing to the presence of bipyridine groups in the UiO-bpy framework. It is noteworthy that CoPMA@UiO-bpy shows excellent recyclability and stability against the leaching of active POM species.
Composite material has been obtained by encapsulating H
5-PMo
10V
2O
40 polyoxometalates (POMs) and 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, ionic liquids (ILs), in the mesoporous cages and large surface area of MIL-100 (Fe). The synergic effect of ILs, Lewis and Brønsted acid sites in both PMo
10V
2 species and MOF created a PMo10V2-ILs@MIL-100(Fe) hybrid with significant catalytic properties in cycloolefins epoxidation. Indeed, the PMo10V2 was activated by the imidazolium cations originated from ILs and the incorporation on MIL-100(Fe) prevented the leaching of POMs
[35]. This composite is easily regenerated for 12 cycles without loss catalytic performance
[36].
MIL-100(Fe) combined with the polyoxometalate (C
16H
36N)
6K
2[γ-SiW
10O
36] has been reported to catalyse epoxidation of 3Z,6Z,9Z-octadecatriene to the corresponding 6,7-epoxide with high site selectivity (82.35%). The conversion catalysed by POM/MIL-100(Fe) exhibits a greater performance when the MOF contains unsaturated Lewis acid iron ions
[37]. The main product of this epoxidation is a sex pheromone of
E. obliqua Prout and can be potentially used in pest insect control with environmental friendliness.
Two POMs-based MOFs, [Cu
6(bip)
12(PMoVI
12O
40)
2(PMoVMoVI
11O
40O
2)]·8H
2O and [Co
3IICo
2III(H
2bib)
2(Hbib)
2(PW
9O
34)
2(H
2O)
6]·6H
2O (H
2bip = 1,3-bis(imidazolyl)propane; bib = 1,4-bis(imidazol)butane)), have been fabricated using a flexible N-containing bidentate ligands via hydrothermal condition. They have been employed in the catalytic processes for selective alkene epoxidation and recycled four times without loss of quality (
Figure 4)
[38].
Figure 4. (a) The 2D structure of [Cu6(bip)12(PMoVI12O40)2(PMoVMoVI11O40O2)]·8H2O; (b) the coordination environment of the Cu(II) cations. Hydrogens and hydroxyls are omitted for clarity. Light-blue polyhedral correspond to the (PMo12) polyanion.
Metal nanoparticles can grow without agglomeration in a porous matrix to produce a stable and active heterogeneous catalyst. Pd NPs have been loaded on the pre-synthesized UiO-66-NH
2 using a simple solution impregnation method and NaBH
4 reduction. The amino groups in the linkers allow a strong interaction with Pd (II) ions which is essential to yielding well-dispersed Pd/UiO-66-NH
2 catalyst. The experiments suggest that the best catalytic activity for styrene epoxidation has been found under Pd NPs loadings of 3.69 wt%
[39].
A dually functionalized catalytic system for the tandem H
2O
2-generation/alkene-oxidation reaction has been realized. A microcrystal of UiO-66-NH
2 has been used as a platform to encapsulate Au and Pd metal NPs and later Pd/Au@UiO-66-NH
2 surfaces have been post-synthetically modified with a (sal)Mo
VI (sal = salicylaldimine) molecular epoxidation catalyst. The porosity of Pd@UiO-66-sal(Mo) allows H
2 and O
2 gases to come into contact with the encapsulated NPs to generate H
2O
2. The synergic effect of the generated H
2O
2 and (sal)Mo
VI in a MOF enhanced epoxide productivity reducing alkene hydrogenation side reaction. This study showed that (sal)Mo moieties in Pd@UiO-66-NH
2 epoxidize cis-cyclooctene substrate faster, leading to the more effective usage of the H
2O
2 oxidant
[40].
Systems composed of a magnetic uniform Fe
3O
4(PAA) microspheres core and of a copper-doped MOF shell demonstrated an easily catalyst recovery approach improving turnover number and turnover frequency. In addition, these magnetic core–shell heterogeneous catalysts improve both stability of the metal active site and dispersity of catalyst materials reducing the metal leaching. Two interesting magnetic core-shell copper-doped catalysts, Fe
3O
4@P4VP@ZIF-8 and Fe
3O
4/Cu
3(BTC)
2 have been prepared by combining the solvothermal method with layer-by-layer assembly. Initially, monodispersed PAA-modified Fe
3O
4 particles were synthesized by solvothermal methods
[41]. In the case of Fe
3O
4/Cu
3(BTC)
2, Fe
3O
4 particles were alternately immersed in solutions containing Cu(CH
3COO)
2·H
2O and H
3BTC such that Cu
3(BTC)
2 nanocrystals grow layer-by-layer on the surface of PAA- modified Fe
3O
4 particles. This nanosized porous structure increases the contact between the Cu(II) active sites present in the Cu
3(BTC)
2 shell and the catalytic substrates
[42]. In Fe
3O
4@P4VP@ZIF-8 catalyst, on the other hand, the Fe
3O
4(PAA) core has been coated with P4VP middle layer to adsorb a large number of Zn
2+ for the growth of the ZIF-8 shell thickness on the surface of the core–shell Fe
3O
4(PAA)@P4VP. Then, the Zn
2+ ions were partially substituted by Cu
2+ ions in the ZIF-8 shell framework. The ions exchange allowed a well-dispersed copper active site in the resulting copper-doped ZIF-8 structure, avoiding their leaching
[43].
Aerobic epoxidation of cyclic olefins (e.g., cyclohexene, norbornene) using both magnetic core–shell copper-doped Fe
3O
4@P4VP@ZIF-8 and Fe
3O
4/Cu
3(BTC)
2 as heterogeneous catalyst achieved high conversion and selectivity (99%) in the formation of the epoxide under mild reaction conditions. Epoxidation of styrene by using Fe
3O
4@P4VP@ZIF-8 as a catalyst has brought only 54% selectivity of the desired epoxide owing to the kinetic instability of styrene oxide and its oxidation into benzaldehyde
[44].
A series of Zr-based core-shell MOF composites with mesoporous cores and microporous shells have been synthesized by solvothermal under kinetic control. PCN-222(Fe) crystals have been synthesized and used as seed crystals to grow the Zr-BPDC(UiO-67) crystals. Meso- and micro-porosity inside of PCN-222(Fe)@Zr-BPDC(UiO-67) drives the catalytic performances for olefin epoxidation reaction
[45]. Indeed, the core MOF with Fe-porphyrin moieties represents the catalytic center, while the shell controls the selectivity of the substrate through tuneable pore size. This size-selective catalyst showed almost complete conversions for small olefins.
Table 1 MOF-based composites for epoxidation reaction.