Chiral metal-organic frameworks with tunable catalytic selectivity in asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reactions

Metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)have achieved great success in the field of heterogeneous catalysis,however,ifs still challenging to design MOF catalysts with enhanced selectivity.Here,we demonstrated a combination strategy of metal design and ligand design on the enantioselectivity—that is the enantioselectivities of chiral MOF(CMOF)catalysts could be significantly enhanced by the rational choice of metal ions with higher electronegativities and introducing sterically demanding groups into the ligands.Four isostructural Ca-,Sr-and Zn-based CMOFs were prepared from enantiopure phosphono-carboxylate ligands of 1,V-biphenol that are functionalized with 2,4,6-trimethyl-and 2,4,6-trifluoro-phenyl groups at the Supposition.The uniformly distributed metal phosphonates along the channels could act as Lewis acids and catalyze the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of heteroaromatic imines(benzoxazines and quinolines).Particularly,the Ca-based MOF 1 with 2,4,6-trimethyl groups at the substituents exhibited enhanced catalytic performance,affording the highest enantioselectivity(up to 97%).It is also the first report of the heterogeneous catalyst with chiral non-noble metal phosphonate active sites for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reactions with Hantzsch ester as the hydrogen source.The catalyst design strategy demonstrated here is expected to develop new types of chiral materials for asymmetric catalysis and other chiral applications.

Planar Chiral[2.2]Paracyclophane-Based Zr(IV)Metal-Organic Frameworks

Self-assembly has been widely explored to improve the circularly polarized_(lum)inescence(CPL)activities of molecular chromophores,but it is hard to amplify CPL while maintaining strong emissions.Optically pure,planar-chiral[2.2]paracyclophane(pCp)is one of the most important sources of chirality for electronic and optoelectronic materials,but the photo_(lum)inescence of its derivatives is significantly quenched after forming aggregates.Here we demonstrate that reticulation of pCp chromophores into highly stable Zr(IV)metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)can simultaneously boost the dissymmetry factor(|g_(lum)|)and_(lum)inescence efficiency(Φ_(PL)).Functionalization of pCp enables the synthesis of two tetracarboxylate linkers with different side arms,which are assembled into two highly stable Zr-MOFswith different topological structures.Geometrical constraints and segregated arrangements of the pCp chromophores imposed by the framework inhibit the aggregation-caused quenching effect and boost their CPL behaviors.Both Zr-MOFs display strong CPL emissions,affording|g_(lum)|andΦ_(PL)values of up to 8.3×10^(-3)and 87%,respectively,which are amplified by∼18-and 52-fold compared to the corresponding free ligands.This work highlights the potential of optimizing CPL performances of chiral chromophores by using MOFs as support structures.