Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are constructed by coordinating metal ions/clusters with organic linkers. Most of MOFs contain sub-nanometer windows that have been used to regulate and separate molecules of different sizes. It has been recently highlighted that functionalizing the pore of the isoreticular MOFs can dramatically change the adsorption capacity and the selectivity of the parent MOFs for CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> gases. Because of their well-defined porosities and chemical tenability, MOFs have also been used as heterogeneous catalysts or catalyst supports. For example, Lewis acid catalyzed reaction can be affected by the electronic effects of linker substitution in metal–organic frameworks. Very recently, Wang et al. explored the organic linker modification on the catalytic activity of Al-MIL-53-supported Pd nanoparticles in phenol hydrogenation. Herein, we will discuss the utilization of the sub-nanometer windows in MOFs to control the catalytic properties of metal nanoclusters confined within the cavities of MOFs. We found that both the activity and selectivity of the confined metal nanoclusters can be controlled by tuning the sub-nanometer windows in MOFs.

Catalytic properties controlled by the sub-nanometer windows in metal-organic frameworks

251st National Meeting (2016)

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