A novel photosensitizing decatungstate-based MOF: Synthesis and photocatalytic oxidation of cyclohexane with molecular oxygen

Abstract

The reaction of [(n-C4H9)4N]4[W10O32], 3-amino-4,4′-bipyridine (NPY) and Cu(ClO4)2·6H2O by a diffusion method led to a novel 3D decatungstate-based MOF {[Cu(NPY)2(DMF)]2(W10O32)}·DMF·3CH3CN (referred to as DT–NPY) with 1D hydrophilic/hydrophobic channels, which was structurally characterized by elemental analyses, IR spectrum, UV–Vis spectrum, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. DT–NPY exhibits remarkable photocatalytic activities for the oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol by molecular oxygen under mild conditions. The high catalytic efficiency, high stability and good recyclability of the photocatalyst DT–NPY demonstrates the superiority of the decatungstate imbedded MOF over homogeneous systems and other heterogenization methods.