Catalytic activity of unsaturated coordinated Cu-MOF to the hydroxylation of phenol

A 2D metal-organic framework [Cu2 (BPTC) (Im)4(H2O) (DMF)]n (1) with unsaturated coordinated Cu(II) sites has been prepared under solvothermal condition, and applied to the hydroxylation of phenol after activating. The catalytic results indicate that 1a (the activated 1) exhibits an obvious activity for phenol hydroxylation at 40 °C for 4 h. Compared to the control experiments where the free Cu(II) (from Cu(OAc)2 salt) has been utilized as the catalysts, 1a shows the higher selectivity to diphenols. This suggests that the coordinated environment of unsaturated coordinated Cu(II) sites in the 2D layer play the key role in the phenol hydroxylation.

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