Chiral Metal-organic Frameworks Research Articles

A supermolecular building block approach for construction of chiral metal-organic frameworks.

A supermolecular building block approach was utilized to fabricate three isoreticular chiral metal-organic frameworks with different pore environments based on enantiopure tetracarboxylate ligands of biphenol, which were found to be highly effective heterogeneous catalysts for the CO2 fixation reaction.

Controlled Exchange of Achiral Linkers with Chiral Linkers in Zr-Based UiO-68 Metal-Organic Framework.

The development of highly robust heterogeneous catalysts for broad asymmetric reactions has always been a subject of interest, but it remains a synthetic challenge. Here we demonstrated that highly stable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with potentially acid-labile chiral catalysts can be synthesized via postsynthetic exchange. Through a one- or two-step ligand exchange, a series of asymmetric metallosalen catalysts with the same or different metal centers are incorporated into a Zr-based UiO-68 MOF to form single- and mixed-M(salen) linker crystals, which cannot be accomplished by direct solvothermal synthesis. The resulting MOFs have been characterized by a variety of techniques including single-crystal X-ray diffraction,N2 sorption, CD, and SEM/TEM-EDS mapping. The single-M(salen) linker MOFs are active and efficient catalysts for asymmetric cyanosilylation of aldehydes, ring-opening of epoxides, oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols, and aminolysis of stilbene oxide, and the mixed-M(salen) linker variants are active for sequential asymmetric alkene epoxidation/epoxide ring-opening reactions. The chiral MOF catalysts are highly enantioselective and completely heterogeneous and recyclable, making them attractive catalysts for eco-friendly synthesis of fine chemicals. This work not only advances UiO-type MOFs as a new platform for heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis in a variety of syntheses but also provides an attractive strategy for designing robust and versatile heterogeneous catalysts.

Determination of Enantiomeric Excess by Solid-Phase Extraction Using a Chiral Metal-Organic Framework as Sorbent.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently attracted considerable attention because of their fascinating structures and intriguing potential applications in diverse areas. In this study, we developed a novel method for determination of enantiomeric excess (ee) of (±)-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol by solid-phase extraction (SPE) using a chiral MOF, [Co(l-tyr)]n(l-tyrCo), as sorbent. After optimization of the experimental conditions, a good linear relationship between the ee and the absorbance of the eluate (R2 = 0.9984) was obtained and the standard curve was established at the concentration of 3 mmol L−1. The ee values of (±)-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol samples can be rapidly calculated using the standard curve after determination of the absorbance of the eluate. The method showed good accuracy, with an average error of 2.26%, and is promising for ee analysis.

Unprecedented three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded hex topological chiral lanthanide-organic frameworks built from an achiral ligand.

The design and preparation of chiral metal-organic frameworks (CMOFs) from achiral ligands are a big challenge. Using 3-nitro-4-(pyridin-4-yl)benzoic acid (HL) as a new linker, a total of eight chiral lanthanide-organic frameworks (LOFs), namely poly[diaquatris[μ2-3-nitro-4-(pyridin-4-yl)benzoato-κ2O:O']lanthanide(III)], L- and D-[Ln(C12H7N2O4)3(H2O)2]n [(1), Ln = Eu; (2), Ln = Gd; (3), Ln = Dy; (4), Ln = Tb], were hydrothermally synthesized without chiral reagents and determined by X-ray crystallography. Crystal structure analyses show that L-(1)-(4) crystallize in the hexagonal P65 space group and are isomorphous and isostructural, while the enantiomers D-(1)-(4) crystallize in the hexagonal P61 space group. All LnIII ions are octacoordinated by six carboxyl O atoms of six 3-nitro-4-(pyridin-4-yl)benzoate ligands and two water molecules in a dodecahedral geometry. A one-dimensional neutral helical [Ln2(CO2)3]n chain is observed in (1)-(4) as a chiral origin. These helical chains are further interconnected via directional hydrogen-bonding interactions between pyridyl groups and water molecules to construct a three-dimensional (3D) homochiral network with hex topology. The present CMOF structure is the first chiral 3D hydrogen-bonded hex-net and shows good water stability. Solid-state circular dichroism (CD) signals revealed that (1)-(4) crystallized through spontaneous resolution. Furthermore, (1) and (4) display a strong red and green photoluminescence at room temperature, respectively, but their intensities reduce to almost half at 200 °C. Notably, upon excitation under visible light (463 nm), a circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) of (1) in the solid state is observed for the first time, with a glum value of 2.61 × 10-2.

Toward Engineering Chiral Rodlike Metal-Organic Frameworks with Rare Topologies.

The establishment of novel design strategies to target chiral rodlike MOFs, elusively faced until now, is one of the most straightforward manners to widen the scope of MOFs. Here we describe our last advances on the application of the metalloligand design strategy toward the development of efficient routes to obtain chiral rodlike MOFs. To this end, we have used as precursor an enantiopure homochiral hexanuclear wheel (1), derived from the amino acid d-valine, which, after a supramolecular reorganization into a one-dimensional homochiral chain-with the same configuration as 1-led to the formation of a homochiral rodlike MOF (2) exhibiting rare etd topology.

Enhanced Activity and Enantioselectivity of Henry Reaction by the Postsynthetic Reduction Modification for a Chiral Cu(salen)-Based Metal-Organic Framework.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) imbedded privileged molecular catalysts are of particular interest due to their higher catalytic activities derived from the MOFs pore/channel confinement effect, improved lifetime through eliminating intermolecular deactivation pathway, and the recyclability based on their heterogeneity. In this work, a 3D chiral metallosalen-based MOF [Cd2(Cu(salen))(DMF)3]·DMF·3H2O (1) with a 1D open channel was synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and other physicochemical methods. Upon postsynthetic reduction modification with NaBH4, the conversion from imino to amino group on salen cores of 1 generates the reduction product 2 with a more flexible chiral group and more alkaline backbone, meanwhile still maintaining the original porous framework. 2 can be used as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the asymmetric Henry reaction with broad substrate applicability and exhibits higher activity and enantioselectivity (ee up to 98%) compared with the unreduced 1. Note that 2 can accelerate the Henry reaction of pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde possessing a potential coordination atom with excellent ee value; however, the homogeneous counterpart does not. In addition, the bulky aldehydes show a decrease in activity but almost the same enantioselectivity with an increase in the molecular size of substrates as a result of the chiral confinement effect of 2, indicating the size-dependent selectivity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest enantioselectivity for asymmetric Henry reaction catalyzed by MOF-based catalysts.

Chiral Metal-Organic Framework Decorated with TEMPO Radicals for Sequential Oxidation/Asymmetric Cyanation Catalysis.

A chiral porous metal-organic framework (MOF) decorated with radicals has been successfully constructed by cocrystallizing achiral (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO)-substituted tricarboxylate and enantiopure VO(salen)-derived dipyridine ligands. The chiral MOF can function as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the sequential alcohol oxidation/asymmetric cyanation of aldehyde reactions with enhanced activity and enantioselectivity compared to the homogeneous counterpart.

Chiral Recognition and Separation by Chirality‐Enriched Metal–Organic Frameworks

AbstractEndowed with chiral channels and pores, chiral metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly useful; however, their synthesis remains a challenge given that most chiral building blocks are expensive. Although MOFs with induced chirality have been reported to avoid this shortcoming, no study providing evidence for the ee value of such MOFs has yet been reported. We herein describe the first study on the efficiency of chiral induction in MOFs using inexpensive achiral building blocks and fully recoverable chiral dopants to control the handedness of racemic MOFs. This method yielded chirality‐enriched MOFs with accessible pores. The ability of the materials to form host–guest complexes was probed with enantiomers of varying size and coordination and in solvents with varying polarity. Furthermore, mixed‐matrix membranes (MMMs) composed of chirality‐enriched MOF particles dispersed in a polymer matrix demonstrated a new route for chiral separation.

Chiral Recognition and Separation by Chirality-Enriched Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Endowed with chiral channels and pores, chiral metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly useful; however, their synthesis remains a challenge given that most chiral building blocks are expensive. Although MOFs with induced chirality have been reported to avoid this shortcoming, no study providing evidence for the ee value of such MOFs has yet been reported. We herein describe the first study on the efficiency of chiral induction in MOFs using inexpensive achiral building blocks and fully recoverable chiral dopants to control the handedness of racemic MOFs. This method yielded chirality-enriched MOFs with accessible pores. The ability of the materials to form host-guest complexes was probed with enantiomers of varying size and coordination and in solvents with varying polarity. Furthermore, mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) composed of chirality-enriched MOF particles dispersed in a polymer matrix demonstrated a new route for chiral separation.

Temperature-controlled spontaneous resolution of enantiomerically threefold interpenetrating arm-shaped MOFs with achiral symmetrical ligands

Hydrothermal reaction of flexible 4,4′-oxybis(benzoic acid) (H2oba), semi-rigid 2,5-bis(4-pyridyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole (bpt) and Cu(OH)2 led to an interesting 2D → 3D polythreaded architecture of MOF [Cu2(bpt)2(oba)2(H2O)]n·4nH2O (1). Accomplished with the rising synthesis temperature, two chiral MOFs [Cu4(bpt)4(oba)4]n (L-2 and D-2), have been obtained from the congenetic nonchiral precursors upon spontaneous resolution, which represent a rarely example of temperature-induced threefold interpenetrating enantiomerically arm-shaped MOFs constructed from achiral symmetrical ligands.

Nonlinear-Optical Behaviors of a Chiral Metal-Organic Framework Comprised of an Unusual Multioriented Double-Helix Structure.

We present here the synthesis of one enantiomeric pair of metal-organic framework materials comprised of a unique multioriented double-helix structure from an achiral spirocenter ligand. Our study clearly shows that the chiral MOF material encompasses concurrently multiple nonlinear-optical functions in the solid state: the noncentrosymmetric structural feature brings the chiral MOF high second-harmonic-generation efficiency; the incorporation of the spirocenter ligand can efficiently produce two-photon-excited photoluminescence with a larger-action cross-sectional value.

Ultrathin Chiral Metal-Organic-Framework Nanosheets for Efficient Enantioselective Separation.

Chiral metal-organic framework (CMOF) nanosheets only a few layers thick remain a virgin land waiting for exploration. Herein, the first examples of ultrathin CMOF nanosheets are prepared by the confinement growth of two-dimensional (2D) chiral layers, which are assembled by helical metal-organic chains within microemulsion. This convenient and easily scaled up inverse microemulsion method gives a series of 2D CMOF nanosheets composed of variable metal nodes or chiral ligands. More significantly, thanks to the exceptionally large number of chiral sites exposed on surfaces, the as-obtained CMOF nanosheets exhibit much higher enantioselectivity in chiral separation compared with their bulk counterparts.

Recent Progress in Asymmetric Catalysis and Chromatographic Separation by Chiral Metal–Organic Frameworks

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), as a new class of porous solid materials, have emerged and their study has established itself very quickly into a productive research field. This short review recaps the recent advancement of chiral MOFs. Here, we present simple, well-ordered instances to classify the mode of synthesis of chiral MOFs, and later demonstrate the potential applications of chiral MOFs in heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis and enantioselective separation. The asymmetric catalysis sections are subdivided based on the types of reactions that have been successfully carried out recently by chiral MOFs. In the part on enantioselective separation, we present the potentiality of chiral MOFs as a stationary phase for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high-resolution gas chromatography (GC) by considering fruitful examples from current research work. We anticipate that this review will provide interest to researchers to design new homochiral MOFs with even greater complexity and effort to execute their potential functions in several fields, such as asymmetric catalysis, enantiomer separation, and chiral recognition.

Novel MOF-Derived Co@N-C Bifunctional Catalysts for Highly Efficient Zn-Air Batteries and Water Splitting.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and MOF-derived materials have recently attracted considerable interest as alternatives to noble-metal electrocatalysts. Herein, the rational design and synthesis of a new class of Co@N-C materials (C-MOF-C2-T) from a pair of enantiotopic chiral 3D MOFs by pyrolysis at temperature T is reported. The newly developed C-MOF-C2-900 with a unique 3D hierarchical rodlike structure, consisting of homogeneously distributed cobalt nanoparticles encapsulated by partially graphitized N-doped carbon rings along the rod length, exhibits higher electrocatalytic activities for oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions (ORR and OER) than that of commercial Pt/C and RuO2 , respectively. Primary Zn-air batteries based on C-MOF-900 for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) operated at a discharge potential of 1.30 V with a specific capacity of 741 mA h gZn-1 under 10 mA cm-2 . Rechargeable Zn-air batteries based on C-MOF-C2-900 as an ORR and OER bifunctional catalyst exhibit initial charge and discharge potentials at 1.81 and 1.28 V (2 mA cm-2 ), along with an excellent cycling stability with no increase in polarization even after 120 h - outperform their counterparts based on noble-metal-based air electrodes. The resultant rechargeable Zn-air batteries are used to efficiently power electrochemical water-splitting systems, demonstrating promising potential as integrated green energy systems for practical applications.

Development of Isostructural Porphyrin-Salen Chiral Metal-Organic Frameworks through Postsynthetic Metalation Based on Single-Crystal to Single-Crystal Transformation.

The development of well-defined multimetallic porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) will add a new dimension to the application of MOF catalysis. From this perspective, the understanding and tailoring of the catalytic metal sites in MOFs are key fundamental challenges that could reveal the intrinsic potential of these materials. In this work, a series of porphyrin-salen chiral MOFs (ps-CMOFs 2-7) have been synthesized through postsynthetic metalation (PSMet) of the parent ps-CMOF via single-crystal to single-crystal transformation. Crystal structures of these ps-CMOF analogues revealed the same topological structure but varied metal entities compared to those of the parent framework. Note that the PSMet process involves three methods involving cation exchange at the nodes, cation exchange at the metalated porphyrin, and cation addition at the free porphyrin, which has been systematically investigated using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and other physicochemical methods. The N2 adsorption tests, thermogravimetric analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction of 2-7 showed curves or patterns similar to those of 1, indicating the maintenance of the crystallinity, porosity, and thermal stability of the framework during the PSMet process. In addition, 2-7 showed distinctly improved adsorption capacities and isosteric heats of adsorption (Qst) for CO2 compared to those of their parent counterpart. Lastly, as a representative example of the ps-CMOF catalytic platform, 5 proved to be an efficient recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for the asymmetric addition reaction of CO2 with epoxides under mild conditions. Furthermore, because of the constrained chiral environment within ps-CMOF, the enantioselectivity of this reaction appears to be dependent on substrate size.

Asymmetric ring-opening reaction of meso-epoxides with aromatic amines using homochiral metal-organic frameworks as recyclable heterogeneous catalysts.

An efficient asymmetric ring-opening (ARO) reaction of meso-epoxides with aromatic amines catalysed by a series of homochiral metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) was carried out. Excellent results (up to 95% ee) for the ARO of cyclohexene oxide with several aromatic amines were achieved with a homochiral MOF derived from the ligand (R)-2,2′-dihydroxyl-1,1′-binaphthalene-5,5′-dicarboxylic acid. Furthermore, homochiral MOFs based on (R)-2,2′-dihydroxy-1,1′-binaphthyl-4,4′-di(4-benzoic acid) and (R)-2,2′-diethoxy-1,1′-binaphthyl-4,4′-di(5-isophthalic acid) catalysed ARO reactions of cis-stilbene oxide with 1-naphthylamine in high yield (up to 95%) and excellent enantioselectivity (up to 97%) of the β-amino alcohol. The MOF catalysts were recoverable and recyclable with retention of their performance.

One-step synthesis of ZnS-N/C nanocomposites derived from Zn-based chiral metal–organic frameworks with highly efficient photocatalytic activity for the selective oxidation of cis-cyclooctene

ZnS-N/C derived from Zn-based chiral MOFs exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity for the selective oxidation of cis-cyclooctene under mild conditions.

Post-synthetic modification of metal–organic frameworks for chiral gas chromatography

A post-synthetic modification strategy was established to synthesize a series of chiral metal–organic frameworks for gas chromatographic separation of diverse racemates.

Chiral metal–organic frameworks constructed from four-fold helical chain SBUs for enantioselective recognition of α-hydroxy/amino acids

Three chiral 3D metal–carboxylate frameworks have been successfully synthesized, featuring four-fold helical metal chains as SBUs. Co-MOFs could recognize enantio-selectively α-hydroxy/amino acids by the change of CD signals.

Coordinative alignment of molecules in chiral metal–organic frameworks

Coordinative alignment of molecules in chiral metal–organic frameworks