Ir nanoclusters confined within hollow MIL-101(Fe) for selective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehyde

Abstract

Although the selective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehyde to unsaturated alcohol (UOL) is an extremely important transformation, it is still a great challenge to achieve high selectivity to UOL due to thermodynamic favoring of the CC hydrogenation over the CO hydrogenation. Herein, we report that iridium nanoclusters (Ir NCs) confined within hollow MIL-101(Fe) expresses satisfied reaction activity (93.9%) and high selectivity (96.2%) for the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde (CAL) to cinnamyl alcohol (COL) under 1 bar H2 atmosphere and room temperature. The unique hollow structure of MIL-101(Fe) benefits for the fast transport of reactant, ensuring the comparable reaction activity and better recyclability of [email protected](Fe) than the counterparts which Ir NCs were on the surface of MIL-101(Fe). Furthermore, The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data indicates the electropositive Ir NCs, owing to the electron transfer from Ir to MIL-101(Fe), can interact with oxygen lone pairs, and Fourier transform infrared spectrum shows the Lewis acid sites in MIL-101(Fe) can strongly interact with CO bond, which contributes to a high selectivity for COL. This work suggests the considerable potential of synergetic effect between hollow MOFs and metal nanoclusters for selective hydrogenation reactions.