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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Development of Heterogeneous Enantioselective Catalysts using Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks MOFs
Published on: January 17, 2020
Metal-salen molecular cages as efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts for cycloaddition of CO2 with
Chee Koon Ng1,2, Ren Wei Toh1, Ting Ting Lin2
1Department of Chemistry , National University of Singapore , 3 Science Drive 3 , Singapore 117543 , Singapore . Email: andyhor@hku.hk ;
Abstract:
A salen based molecular cage, salen@cage, was synthesized and complexed with Co and Al to yield metal-salen molecular cages, Co(ii)@cage, Co(iii)@cage and Al(iii)@cage. These cages were demonstrated to be efficient heterogeneous catalysts for the cycloaddition of CO2 with styrene oxide, achieving full conversion at 25 °C and 1 atm CO2. Good to excellent yields of various cyclic carbonates were also achieved under mild conditions. Al(iii)@cage can be reused up to five times without any significant loss of its high catalytic activity. The capability to access a variety of heterogeneous organometallic catalysts with salen@cage offers new prospects for practical CO2 utilization and chemical manufacturing.
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