Influence of oxophilic behavior of UiO‐66(Ce) metal–organic framework with superior catalytic performance in Friedel‐Crafts alkylation reaction

Abstract

In recent years, one of the analogous metal organic frameworks (MOFs) with UiO‐66(Zr) topology receiving wider attention is UiO‐66(Ce), which exhibits interesting properties and high thermal and chemical stability. Hence, in the present work, UiO‐66(Ce) is synthesized by adopting an earlier procedure and characterized by series of spectroscopic techniques like UV‐visible (UV‐Vis), Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR), Raman and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to confirm its structural features and crystallinity using powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and these results are in close agreement with other reports. The catalytic performance of UiO‐66(Ce) was evaluated in the Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction between β‐nitrostyrene and indole to obtain heterocyclic compounds with biological activity. A series of control experiments indicate that Ce4+ located within the framework plays an important role in promoting this reaction and its activity is found to be much superior to that of UiO‐66(Zr). This enhanced activity with Ce4+ compared to Zr4+ is attributed due to the higher oxophilicity of Ce4+, which can readily bind with an oxygen‐containing substrate such as β‐nitrostyrene. The leaching test confirms the heterogeneity of the reaction and the catalyst can be reused three times with identical activity to the fresh solid. UiO‐66(Ce) shows wide substrate scope with high yields of the desired product. A proposed mechanism is also discussed.