Efficient Cycloaddition of CO<sub>2</sub> and Aziridines Activated by a Quadruple-Interpenetrated Indium–Organic Framework as a Recyclable Catalyst
Xuerui Tian, Ying Shi, Sheng‐Li Hou, Yue Ma, Bin Zhao
Abstract
On the basis of the global warming effect, it is of great significance to convert CO2 into the high value-added products oxazolidinones, but investigations on main-group-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as heterogeneous catalysts still have not been reported so far. In this work, a quadruple-interpenetrated porous indium-based MOF, {[NH2(CH3)2][In(CPT)2]·3CH3CN·3DMA}n (1), is constructed from the organic ligand 3,5-bis(4′-carboxyphenyl)-1,2,4-triazole through solvothermal reactions, and N2 adsorption proves that the framework has a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface areas with 2024 m2/g. The catalytic research on CO2 conversion reveals that compound 1 has high reactivity for the cycloaddition of CO2 with aziridines, and the product 3-ethyl-5-phenyloxazolidin-2-one can be obtained with a yield of 99% under mild conditions. In addition, 1 exhibits excellent activity for different kinds of substrates and can be reused at least five cycles without any significant deactivation, suggesting that 1 is a potential candidate for the chemical conversion of CO2 and aziridines. Mechanistic explorations indicate that the high efficiency of 1 is attributed to the indium center in the framework as a Lewis acid site, and the large porosity can enrich substrates. Importantly, 1 behaved as the first main-group MOF-based catalyst in the reported coupling reaction of CO2 with aziridines.