Eco-friendly co-catalyst-free cycloaddition of CO2 and aziridines activated by a porous MOF catalyst

Cycloaddition of CO2 with aziridines is an important reaction to obtain high-value products. Porous MOFs can catalyze this reaction, but co-catalysts are still necessary to improve the catalytic performance. Such a reaction catalyzed by MOFs-based materials without co-catalyst has not been reported hitherto. Herein, a porous and stable three-dimensional (3D) framework {[Ni(DCTP)]·6.5DMF}n (1) with a large Langmuir surface area of 3,789 m2/g was synthesized, which displayed high I2 adsorption ability up to 731.0 mg/g and could release it reversibly. Additionally, it exhibited a high CO2 adsorption capacity of 104.0 cm3/g at 273 K. The investigation results revealed 1 could effectively catalyze the cycloaddition of CO2 and aziridines in the absence of additional co-catalyst, and it could maintain the catalytic activity after five cycles. Furthermore, 1 also exhibited high catalytic activity for the gram-scale experiment. Importantly, it is the first MOF material as a heterogeneous catalyst for the conversion of CO2 and aziridines without co-catalyst.