Metal�organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of porous materials assembled from metal ions/clusters and organic ligands, have been investigated extensively because of their high surface areas, well-defined porosities and chemical tenability. MOFs have been utilized for many applications including gas storage, separations, chemical sensors, and drug delivery. In recent years, MOFs have demonstrated their potential application as heterogeneous catalysts, especially those using MOFs as a supporting matrix for metal nanoparticles (known as metal@MOFs). Despite the many investigations of the MOFs' role in catalysis, there are only a limited number of studies of bifunctional metal@MOFs systems for tandem catalysis. As pointed out by recent reviews, the field of developing tandem catalysis using MOFs remains almost totally unexplored and will have a large impact on current industry processes. Herein, we developed a bifunctional tandem heterogeneous catalyst by encapsulating Pd NCs in the cavities of UiO-66-NH2, which could catalyse the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and the subsequent acetalization of benzaldehyde with ethylene glycol. Acetals are a class of chemicals that can be used for the protection of carbonyl compounds. They are also widely utilized as organic solvents, fuel additives, steroids, besides being important in the pharmaceutical and fragrance industries.Generally, acetal syntheses are carried out by the condensation of glycols with aldehydes using mineral acid catalysts. However, these catalysts are toxic, corrosive and difficult to remove after the reaction.

Palladium nanoclusters encapsulated in metal organic frameworks: A tandem catalyst for acetal synthesis

248th National Meeting (2014)

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