Bifunctional 3D Cu-MOFs containing glutarates and bipyridyl ligands: selective CO2 sorption and heterogeneous catalysis.

We report bifunctional three-dimensional (3D) Cu-MOFs with high selectivity of CO(2) over N(2) and H(2) as well as high catalytic activity for transesterification of esters. The Cu-MOFs containing Cu(2) dinuclear units connected by glutarates and bipyridyl ligands are formulated as [{Cu(2)(Glu)(2)(μ-bpa)}·(CH(3)CN)](n) (1) and [{Cu(2)(Glu)(2)(μ-bpp)}·(C(3)H(6)O)](n) (2) (Glu = glutarate, bpa = 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane, bpp = 1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane). These two new bifunctional 3D Cu-MOFs possess very similar pore shape with different pore dimensions. Their gas sorption behaviors were investigated by using CO(2), N(2) and H(2) at suitable temperatures. Both MOFs exhibited good CO(2) selectivity over N(2) and H(2). MOF 1 having a smaller pore dimension exhibited much higher CO(2) adsorption enthalpy than MOF 2 having a larger pore dimension. However, MOF 2 exhibited more enhanced CO(2) uptake ability than MOF 1. A subtle variation of pore dimension indeed influenced the CO(2) uptake ability somewhat significantly especially at higher temperatures such as 273 K and 298 K. Heterogeneous catalytic activities of the MOFs were also investigated in detail. Only MOF 1 appeared to be an efficient, mild, and easily recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification of esters and constitutes a promising class of heterogeneous catalysts that allowed reuse without a significant loss of activity through twenty runs with ester.