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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

HKUST-1 as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Synthesis of Vanillin
Published on: July 23, 2016
Three powerful dinuclear metal-organic catalysts for converting CO2 into organic carbonates
Dan Zhao1, Xiao-Hui Liu, Zhuang-Zhi Shi
1Coordination Chemistry Institute, State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing National Laboratory of Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China. sunwy@nju.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Developing efficient catalysts for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into varied organic carbonates is an important scientific goal. By using the NH2-functionalized tripodal ligand 2-((bis(2-aminoethyl)amino)methyl)phenol (HL), three dinuclear metal-organic complexes [Zn(L)]2·2ClO4 (1), [Cu(L)]2·2ClO4·2H2O (2) and [Cd(L)]2·2ClO4 (3) have been successfully isolated and structurally characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Considering the dinuclear metal centers and the NH2-functional groups in the structures, 1-3 were investigated as catalysts for converting CO2 into organic carbonates, and the results show that 1-3 exhibit an outstanding ability for converting CO2 into varied organic carbonates at atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa). The catalytic system also displays a wide substrate scope and high catalytic activity, and the reaction mechanism has been proposed herein.
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