Role of “post-coordination interaction” boosted performance of rare-earth based MOFs derived catalyst for hydrogenation-alkylation cascade reaction

Abstract

Post-coordination interactions (abbreviated as PCI) play an essential role in the synthesis and optimization of catalysts by influencing their coordination environment, stabilizing reaction intermediates, tuning activity, and allowing for dynamic behavior. In this work, a LaOCl incorporated into carbon-nitrogen supported metallic Co and CoFe alloy catalyst (termed as CF/L-CN-PCI) via PCI strategy has been synthesized. This catalyst was then utilized in a cascade reaction involving nitroarenes and benzyl alcohol. The developed CF/L-CN-PCI catalyst exhibits higher catalytic selectivity compared to CF/L-CN-IWI catalyst prepared by IWI method in cascade reactions. Additionally, this catalyst offers ease of separation and demonstrates good catalytic cycle stability. Various characterization techniques and control experiments were employed to validate the reasons for the enhanced catalytic performance and to investigate the key issues such as the rate-determining step during the reaction process. We hope that this catalyst preparation method can serve as a reference for the development of other superior catalysts and their application in different reactions.