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Updated: Jul 20, 2025

Surface Functionalization of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Moisture Resistance
Published on: September 5, 2018
Iodine Molecules within Triethylenediamine-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks for Hydrolysis/Alkylation Tandem Reactions
Haocheng Liao1, Yongjie Wang1, Yuanli Zhu1
1Joint Laboratory on Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, P. R. China.
Abstract:
The integration of radionuclide iodine molecules in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for organic synthesis is attracting considerable research attention due to their specific catalytic performance. However, understanding the comprehensive catalytic behaviors of different types of molecular iodine encapsulated in MOFs for a sequential organic transformation is a great challenge. To address this issue, we have designed two triethylenediamine-functionalized MOFs assembled from 1,3,5-tricarboxyphenyl-2-(triethylenediaminemethyl)benzene-linker and {Cd(COO)3N} or {Cu4(u3-OH)2(COO)6N} clusters. Both MOFs show good stability and adsorption of I2 in the solution and vapor phases. Catalysts obtained after treatment with ethyl acetate present efficient catalytic activity in hydrolysis/alkylation tandem reactions in water. The mechanistic investigations disclose a sequential catalytic process comprising a "hidden" Brønsted acid catalytic hydrolysis of acetals to aldehydes followed by the I2-bonding Lewis acid catalytic alkylation of aldehydes to 3,3'-disubstituted 1H-indoles.
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