A new porous Co(ii)-metal-organic framework for high sorption selectivity and affinity to CO2 and efficient catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohols to benzaldehydes

Herein, we report a new 3D porous Co(ii)-based metal-organic framework catalyst (Me2NH2)(2)[Co-3(L)(2)(H2O)(2)]center dot 2DMF (MOF I), which has been successfully prepared by using Co(ii) ions and rigid V-shaped 3,5-di(2,4-dicarboxylphenyl)pyridine (H4L) via the solvothermal reaction. Structural analysis reveals that I displays a porous structure with the pore size of 16.2 x 7.2 angstrom(2) based on the trinuclear [Co-3(COO)(4)(H2O)(2)N-2] secondary building units (SBUs). Gas sorption experiments on the guest free sample I ' reveals a high capacity and selectivity to CO2 over CH4. And further, the catalytic explorations of the I '-catalyzed system (I ': 3 mol%; proline: 40 mol%; CH3CN: 2 mL) reveal that benzyl alcohols with different structures can be efficiently transformed into benzyl alcohols without by-products under mild conditions.