Regulating Catalytic Oxidation Enantiomers Behavior by Imparting Chiral Microenvironment in Zr-Based Metal-Organic...

Chiral inversions of enantiomers have significantly different biological activities, so it is important to develop simple and effective methods to efficiently identify optically pure compounds. Inspired by enzyme catalysis, the construction of chiral microenvironments resembling enzyme pockets in the pore space structure of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to achieve asymmetric enantioselective recognition and catalysis has become a new research hotspot. Here, a super-stable porphyrin-containing material PCN-224 is constructed by solvothermal method and a chiral microenvironment around the existing catalytic site of the material is created by post-synthesis modifications of the histidine (His) enantiomers. Experimental and theoretical calculations results show that the modulation of chiral ligands around Zr oxide clusters produces different spatial site resistances, which can greatly affect the adsorption and catalytic level of the enantiomeric molecules of tryptophan guests, resulting in a good enantioselective property of the material. It provides new ideas and possibilities for future chiral recognition and asymmetric catalysis.