Oxo-vanadium (IV) complex supported by microporous organic nanotube frameworks: A high selective heterogeneous catalyst for the oxidation of thiols to disulfides

- Amine-functional microporous organic nanotube frameworks as oxo-vanadium (IV) support.
- The amine moieties play a key role to anchor oxo-vanadium (IV).
- VO-MONFs possesses a high surface area and hierarchically porous structure.
- The catalyst shows high catalytic activity and excellent reusability.

An efficient oxidation catalyst has been synthesized by anchoring oxo-vanadium (IV) onto the amino-functional microporous organic nanotube frameworks (NH2-MONFs). The amino groups are used to immobilize oxo-vanadium (IV) into the porous organic polymer supporter. The resulting oxo-vanadium (IV) complexes have a high surface area, large pore volume, hierarchically porous structure and robust organic network, which have great potential application in heterogeneous catalysis. The introduction of mesoporous tubular channels in the network units improves mass transfer in the catalytic system and the well distribution of catalytic sites in the channels facilitates the accessibility of active sites, which will be beneficial for good catalytic performance in heterogeneous catalysis. The prepared oxo-vanadium heterogeneous catalyst shows high catalytic activity and excellent stability in the selective oxidation reactions of thiols to disulfides.

We demonstrate a novel fabrication of amine-functional microporous organic nanotube frameworks supported oxo-vanadium (IV) catalysts (VO-MONFs) by combination of hyper cross-linking multicomponent bottlebrush copolymers and a post-modification strategy. The resultant VO-MONFs show high heterogeneous catalytic activity and excellent reusability in the selective oxidation reactions of thiols to disulfides.272