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Porous organic cages (POCs) have many advantages, including superior microenvironments, good monodispersity, and shape homogeneity, excellent molecular solubility, high chemical stability, and intriguing host-guest chemistry. These properties enable POCs to overcome the limitations of extended porous networks such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). However, the applications of POCs in bioimaging remain limited due to the problems associated with their rigid and hydrophobic structures, thus leading to strong aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) in aqueous biological media. To address this challenge, we report the preparation of aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active POCs capable of stimuli responsiveness for enhanced bioimaging. We rationally design a hydrophilic, structurally flexible tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-based POC that is almost entirely soluble in aqueous solutions. This POC's conformationally flexible superstructure allows the dynamic rotation of the TPE-based phenyl rings, thus endowing impressive AIE characteristics for responses to environmental changes such as temperature and viscosity. We employ these notable features in the bioimaging of living cells and obtain good performance, demonstrating that the present AIE-active POCs are suitable candidates for further biological applications.

By synergizing the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, single-site heterogeneous catalysis represents a highly promising opportunity for many catalytic processes. Particularly, the unprecedented designability and versatility of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) promote them as salient platforms for designing single-site catalytic materials by introducing isolated, well-defined active sites into the frameworks. Herein, we design new MOF-supported single-site catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol (CH3OH), a reaction of great significance in CO2 valorization. Specifically, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC), a class of excellent modifiers and anchors, is used to anchor coinage metal hydrides M(I)-H (M = Cu, Ag, and Au) onto the organic linker of UiO-68. The strong metal-ligand interactions between NHC and M(I)-H verify the robustness and feasibility of our design strategy. On the tailor-made catalysts, a three-stage sequential transformation is proposed for CH3OH synthesis with HCOOH and HCHO as the transit intermediates. A density functional theory-based comparative study suggests that UiO-68 decorated with NHC-Cu(I)-H performs best for CO2 hydrogenation to HCOOH. This is further rationalized by three linear relationships for the Gibbs energy barrier of CO2 hydrogenation to HCOO intermediate, the first with the NBO charge of the hydride in NHC-M(I)-H, the second with the electronegativity of M, and the third with the gap between the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of CO2 and the highest occupied molecular orbital of the catalyst. It is confirmed that the high efficiency of MOF-supported NHC-Cu(I)-H for CO2 transformation to CH3OH is via the proposed three-stage mechanism, and in each stage, the step involving heterolytic dissociation of H2 together with product generation is the most energy-intensive. The rate-limiting step in the entire mechanism is identified to be H2 dissociation accompanying with simultaneous HCHO and H2O formation. Altogether, the tailor-made UiO-68 decorated with NHC-Cu(I)-H features well-defined active sites, enables precise manipulation of reaction paths, and demonstrates excellent reactivity for CO2 hydrogenation to CH3OH. It is also predicted to surpass a recently reported MOF-808 catalyst consisting of neighboring Zn2+-O-Zr4+ sites. The designed MOFs as well as the proposed strategy here establish a new paradigm and can be extended to other hydrogenation reactions.

3D covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with well-defined porous channels are shown to be capable of inducing chiral molecular catalysts from non-enantioselective to highly enantioselective in catalyzing organic transformations. By condensations of a tetrahedral tetraamine and two linear dialdehydes derived from enantiopure 1,1'-binaphthol (BINOL), two chiral 3D COFs with a 9-fold or 11-fold interpenetrated diamondoid framework are prepared. Enhanced Bronsted acidity was observed for the chiral BINOL units that are uniformly distributed within the tubular channels compared to the non-immobilized acids. This facilitates the Bronsted acid catalysis of cyclocondensation of aldehydes and anthranilamides to produce 2,3-dihydroquinazolinones. DFT calculations show the COF catalyst provides preferential secondary interactions between the substrate and framework to induce enantioselectivities that are not achievable in homogeneous systems.

Summary Zr-carboxylate metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are structurally robust materials, in part due to their strong coordination bonds. The regioselective Zr–O bond cleavage and formation between 3D architectures are thus challenging and are heretofore unexplored. In this work, by introducing highly flexible 18-crown-6-ether functionalities into a homochiral Zr-MOF, we report an unprecedented topology transition in which a 4,10-connected framework undergoes a rapid solid-state transition into a thermodynamically more stable 4,8-connected analog by a regioselective-linker-elimination under ambient conditions. The transition process was unambiguously unraveled by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction studies, and we proposed a possible transition mechanism based on various control experiments and theoretical calculations. The excellent chemical stability and substantially expanded porosity and pore apertures endowed the transformed chiral MOF with an exceptional capacity for the enantioadsorptive and solid-phase extractive separation of the racemic drug molecule of lansoprazole with 98% ee and 93% ee, respectively.

Separation of racemic mixtures is of great importance and interest in chemistry and pharmacology. Porous materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely explored as chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in chiral resolution. However, it remains a challenge to develop new CSPs for reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), which is the most popular chromatographic mode and accounts for over 90% of all separations. Here we demonstrated for the first time that highly stable Zr-based MOFs can be efficient CSPs for RP-HPLC. By elaborately designing and synthesizing three tetracarboxylate ligands of enantiopure 1,1'-biphenyl-20-crown-6, we prepared three chiral porous Zr(IV)-MOFs with the framework formula [Zr6O4(OH)8(H2O)4(L)2]. They share the same flu topological structure but channels of different sizes and display excellent tolerance to water, acid, and base. Chiral crown ether moieties are periodically aligned within the framework channels, allowing for stereoselective recognition of guest molecules via supramolecular interactions. Under acidic aqueous eluent conditions, the Zr-MOF-packed HPLC columns provide high resolution, selectivity, and durability for the separation of a variety of model racemates, including unprotected and protected amino acids and N-containing drugs, which are comparable to or even superior to several commercial chiral columns for HPLC separation. DFT calculations suggest that the Zr-MOF provides a confined microenvironment for chiral crown ethers that dictates the separation selectivity.

The development of membranes that block solutes while allowing rapid water transport is of great importance. The microstructure of the membrane needs to be rationally designed at the molecular level to achieve precise molecular sieving and high water flux simultaneously. We report the design and fabrication of ultrathin, ordered conjugated-polymer-framework (CPF) films with thicknesses down to 1 nm via chemical vapour deposition and their performance as separation membranes. Our CPF membranes inherently have regular rhombic sub-nanometre (10.3 × 3.7 Å) channels, unlike membranes made of carbon nanotubes or graphene, whose separation performance depends on the alignment or stacking of materials. The optimized membrane exhibited a high water/NaCl selectivity of ∼6,900 and water permeance of ∼112 mol m

By synergizing the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, single-site heterogeneous catalysis represents a highly promising opportunity for many catalytic processes. Particularly, the unprecedented designability and versatility of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) promote them as salient platforms for designing single-site catalytic materials by introducing isolated, well-defined active sites into the frameworks. Herein, we design new MOF-supported single-site catalysts for CO

Resolving single-crystal structures of two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) is a great challenge, hindered in part by limited strategies for growing high-quality crystals. A better understanding of the growth mechanism facilitates development of methods to grow high-quality 2D COF single crystals. Here, we take a different perspective to explore the 2D COF growth process by tracing growth intermediates. We discover two different growth mechanisms, nucleation and self-healing, in which self-assembly and pre-arrangement of monomers and oligomers are important factors for obtaining highly crystalline 2D COFs. These findings enable us to grow micron-sized 2D single crystalline COF Py-1P. The crystal structure of Py-1P is successfully characterized by three-dimensional electron diffraction (3DED), which confirms that Py-1P does, in part, adopt the widely predicted AA stacking structure. In addition, we find the majority of Py-1P crystals (>90%) have a previously unknown structure, containing 6 stacking layers within one unit cell.

The self-assembly of highly stable zirconium(IV)-based coordination cages with aggregation induced emission (AIE) molecular rotors for in vitro bio-imaging is reported. The two coordination cages, NUS-100 and NUS-101, are assembled from the highly stable trinuclear zirconium vertices and two flexible carboxyl-decorated tetraphenylethylene (TPE) spacers. Extensive experimental and theoretical results show that the emissive intensity of the coordination cages can be controlled by restricting the dynamics of AIE-active molecular rotors though multiple external stimuli. Because the two coordination cages have excellent chemical stability in aqueous solutions (pH stability: 2-10) and impressive AIE characteristics contributed by the molecular rotors, they can be employed as novel biological fluorescent probes for in vitro live-cell imaging.

Metal–organic framework (MOF)-based catalysts have shown enormous potential in CO2 conversion to high-value added chemicals. Herein, we report a density functional theory (DFT) study on CO2 hydrogenation to methanol (CH3OH) on defective UiO-66, in which a frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) is created by removing one organic linker. The hydrogenation is considered a three-stage transformation: (1) CO2 is hydrogenated into formic acid (HCOOH); (2) HCOOH is converted to formaldehyde (HCHO) via hydrogenation and dehydration; (3) HCHO is hydrogenated into CH3OH. The reaction mechanisms are investigated in detail by studying the optimized structures and the corresponding Gibbs energies for the elementary processes involved in the transformation. For CO2 hydrogenation to HCOOH, three pathways are computed comparatively. In Pathway I, adsorbed CO2 reacts with H2 to form HCOOH directly and this step features a high free energy barrier comparable to that in the gas phase. In the other two pathways, adsorbed H2 is first split into a proton (H+) and a hydride (H−) on the FLP, and then CO2 is hydrogenated into HCOOH via a stepwise mechanism (Pathway II) or a concerted mechanism (Pathway III). The DFT calculations reveal that the energy barriers in Pathway II and III are reduced significantly compared to that in Pathway I, and Pathway III is the most favourable for CO2 hydrogenation to HCOOH. Subsequent calculations suggest that the conversion of HCOOH to HCHO and further to CH3OH is also facile via H2 dissociation and the concerted transfer of H+ and H− to HCOOH and HCHO. These results highlight the importance of FLP-assisted heterolytic dissociation of H2 in promoting CO2 hydrogenation. This study suggests that the defective UiO-66 with a FLP might be a potential catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation and it could facilitate the bottom-up design of efficient MOF-based catalysts for CO2 utilization.

The development of methodologies for inducing and tailoring enantioselectivities of catalysts is an important issue in asymmetric catalysis. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time that chiral molecular catalysts can be boosted from completely nonselective to highly enantioselective when installed in nanostructured metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Exfoliation of layered crystals is one of the most direct synthetic routes to unltrathin nanosheets, but its use in MOFs is limited by the availability of layered MOFs. We illustrate that layered MOFs can be designed using ligand-capped metal clusters and angular organic linkers. This leads to the synthesis of two three-dimensional (3D) layered porous MOFs from Zn4-p-tert-butylsulfonyl calix[4]arene and chiral angular 1,1'-binaphthol/-biphenol dicarboxylic acids, which can be ultrasonic exfoliated into one- and two-layer nanosheets. The obtained MOF materials are efficient catalysts for asymmetric cascade condensation and cyclization of 2-aminobenzamide and aldehydes to produce 2,3-dihyroquinazolinones. While both binaphthol and biphenol display no enantioselectivity, restriction of their freedom in the MOFs leads to 56-90% and 46-72% ee, respectively, which are increased to 72-94% and 64-82% ee after exposure to external surfaces of the flexible nanosheets. Moreover, the MOF crystals and nanosheets exhibit highly sensitive fluorescent enhancement in the presence of chiral amino alcohols with enantioselectivity factors being, respectively, increased up to 1.4 and 2.3 times of the values of the diols, allowing them to be utilized in chiral sensing. Therefore, the observed enantioselectivities increase in the order organocatalyst < MOF crystals < MOF nanosheets in both catalysis and sensing. This work not only provides a strategy to make 3D layered MOFs and their untrathin nanosheets but also paves the way to utilize nanostructured MOFs to manipulate enantioselectivities of molecular catalysts.

While crystalline covalent organic frameworks (COFs) linked by C-C bonds are highly desired in synthetic chemistry, it remains a formidable challenge to synthesize. Efforts to generate C-C single bonds in COFs via de novo synthesis usually afford amorphous structures rather than crystalline phases. We demonstrate here that C-C single bond-based COFs can be prepared by direct reduction of C═C bond-linked frameworks via crystal-to-crystal transformation. By Knoevenagel polycondensation of chiral tetrabenzaldehyde of dibinaphthyl-22-crown-6 with 1,4-phenylenediacetonitrile or 4,4'-biphenyldiacetonitrile, two olefin-linked chiral COFs with 2D layered tetragonal structure are prepared. Reduction of olefin linkages of the as-prepared CCOFs produces two C-C single bond linked frameworks, which retains high crystallinity and porosity as well as high chemical stability in both strong acids and bases. The quantitative reduction is confirmed by Fourier transform infrared and cross-polarization magic angle spinning 13C NMR spectroscopy. Compared to the pristine structures, the reduced CCOFs display blue-shifted emission with enhanced quantum yields and fluorescence lifetimes, while the parent CCOFs exhibit higher enantioselectivity than the reduced analogs when be used as fluorescent sensors to detect chiral amino alcohols via supramolecular interactions with the built-in crown ether moieties. This work provides an attractive strategy for making chemically stable functionalized COFs with new linkages that are otherwise hard to produce.

Density functional theory slab calculations were performed to investigate the adsorption and dissociation of CO over pure and M-doped Ni(211) (M = Fe, Co, Ru and Rh) with the aim to elucidate the effect of transition metal doping for CO activation. Doping the step edge of Ni(211) with Fe, Co and Ru is found to enhance the binding of CO in the initial state (IS) (in the sequence by the improvement degree: Fe > Ru > Co) as well as the co-adsorption of C and O in the final state (FS) (Ru > Fe > Co). In contrast, Rh doping is unfavorable both in the IS and in the FS. Analysis of the overall potential energy surfaces (PES) suggests CO dissociation is facilitated by Fe, Ru and Co doping both kinetically and thermodynamically, wherein Fe and Ru behave extraordinary. Interestingly, Fe substitute is slightly superior to Ru in kinetics whereas the contrary is the case in thermodynamics. Rh doping elevates the energy height from 0.97 eV on Ni(211) to 1.32 eV and releases 0.39 eV less heat relative to Ni(211), again manifesting a negative effect. Besides the classical Bronsted–Evans–Polanyi relationship, we put forward another two neat linear relations, which can well describe the feature of CO dissociation. The differences of CO adsorption and activation in the IS over pure and doped Ni(211) surfaces are rationalized via electronic structure analysis. The findings presented herein are expected to provide theoretical guidance for catalyst design and optimization in relevant processes.

Vicinal surfaces of Ni are model catalysts of general interest and great importance in computational catalysis. Here we report a comprehensive study conducted with density functional theory on Ni[n(111) × (100)] (n = 2, 3 and 4) surfaces to explore the effect of terrace width and step edge coverage on CO adsorption and dissociation, a probe reaction relevant to many industrial processes. The coordination numbers (CN), the generalized coordination numbers and the d band partial density of states (d-PDOS) of Ni are identified as descriptors to faithfully reflect the difference of the step edge region for Ni[n(111) × (100)]. Based on analysis of the energy diagrams for CO activation and dissociation as well as the structural features of the Ni(311), Ni(211) and Ni(533) surfaces, Ni(211) (n = 3) is proposed as a model of adequate representativeness for Ni[n(111) × (100)] (n ≥ 3) surface groups in investigating small molecule activation over such stepped structures. Further, a series of Ni(211) surfaces with the step edge coverage ranging from 1/4 to 1 monolayer (ML) were utilized to assess their effect on CO activation. The results show that CO adsorption is not sensitive to the step edge coverage, which could readily approach 1 ML under a CO-rich atmosphere. In contrast, CO dissociation manifests strong coverage dependence when the coverage exceeds 1/2 ML, indicating that significant adsorbate–adsorbate interactions emerge. These results are conducive to theoretical studies of metal-catalyzed surface processes where the defects play a vital role.

As an integral part in methanation, CH4 formation from successive hydrogenation of atomic C was systematically studied over stepped Ni(211) and Ni3Fe(211) surfaces via periodic density functional theory calculations. The effect of surface composition was explicitly examined by taking into account of two termination structures of Ni3Fe(211) (the surfaces with NiNi- and NiFe-type step are denoted as Ni3Fe(211)-AA and Ni3Fe(211)-AB, respectively). Both alloyed surfaces are found to benefit the initial C hydrogenation through enhancing H adsorption as well as weakening the binding strength of C. Because CH2 generation and subsequent CH2 hydrogenation favor different sites over such stepped surfaces, the step of CH2 migration was proposed and incorporated into the mechanism. The hydrogenation reactions manifest significant structural sensitivity since Ni3Fe(211)-AB is superior to Ni3Fe(211)-AA in lowering the overall potential energy surfaces towards CH4 formation. In combination with our previous work focusing on CO activation and dissociation, the present results confirmed the improved activity of Ni3Fe alloy catalyst for CO methanation suggested experimentally and the Ni3Fe(211)-AB termination is further identified to dominate the promoting effect. A newly proposed Bronsted–Evans–Polanyi relationship is also found to hold for the successive hydrogenation steps herein.

In this work, combined density functional theory (DFT) and experimental studies were conducted to investigate the structural, electronic and acidic properties of TiO2 nanoparticle supported on USY zeolite (TiO2/USY). DFT calculations suggest that there are mainly two interaction ways between TiO2 and USY zeolite, of which the bridge-form configuration appears more stable than the ring-form one. The bonding between TiO2 and USY zeolite was explored by analyzing the partial density of states to further understand the interactions. The acidity of TiO2/USY was evaluated by calculations of the deprotonation energy combined with TPD experiment. The results indicate that TiO2 modification changes the intensity distribution of the acid centers and induces the medium acid sites. The cracking reaction of model compound C10H12 verifies the remarkably improved cracking activity of TiO2/USY compared to the unmodified USY.

Density functional theory was used to study the stepwise decomposition of adsorbed ethylene on Pd(1 0 0) aiming to better understand the evolution behavior and illustrate the plausible carbon formation routes. The structural and energetic properties of various C H and C C bond scission reactions were calculated and C H bond breaking seems always favorable for the same species. CH2CH and CH fragments were verified as likely intermediates theoretically, in accordance with previous experiments. Three possible pathways for the formation of carbon monomer were proposed based on the analysis of the reaction network and they all feature the generation of CH as the rate-limiting step. There exists some structure sensibility for ethylene transformation on Pd catalyst on account of the notable difference between the results on Pd(1 0 0) with that on Pd(1 1 1) and Pd(2 1 1) reported recently.

Density functional theory calculations were performed to study the adsorption and dissociation of methane as well as syngas formation over Ni(111) and NiPt(111) aiming to gain insight into the effect of Ni(111) surface alloying on partial oxidation of methane (POM). Results show that Pt-doped Ni(111) surface is beneficial to the adsorption of CHx and H species while unfavorable to the desorption of H2. The process of CH → C + H is found to be the rate-limiting step of successive dehydrogenation of methane on NiPt(111). Especially, the processes of CH4 → CH3 + H and CH3 → CH2 + H proceed more easily on NiPt(111) than on Ni(111). Three potential pathways for CO formation in the POM process were proposed and calculations identified that CH + O → CHO → CO + H are likely to be the main routes for CO formation on Ni(111) with CH + O → CHO as the rate-limiting step. Further calculations reveal that the formation of CO and H2 may be more difficult on NiPt(111) than on Ni(111).

The reductive coupling of aldehydes to afford pinacolic alcohols using all kinds of reducing agents involving samarium is well known. In this report, however, treatment of aromatic aldehydes with Cu(I)/Sm system produces benoins and/or benzils in good yields. A possible mechanism is proposed where Cu(I) not only activates the Sm metal but also promotes the dehydrogenation of the intermediates, during which a Cu(III) species may be involved. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® for the following free supplemental resource(s): Full experimental and spectral details.]

The adsorption and dissociation of CO over stepped Ni and Ni3Fe surfaces were systematically studied using density functional theory slab calculations. Both (211)-like surface structure terminations (NiNi step and NiFe step, denoted as Ni3Fe(211)-AA and Ni3Fe(211)-AB) are considered for Ni3Fe. Direct scission of the C–O bond in CO is identified as the least likely one among the three proposed dissociation pathways and CO dissociation via a CHO intermediate appears to be most feasible at low CO coverage on pure and alloyed Ni(211) surfaces. The priority of H-assisted CO dissociation might originate from the more activated C–O bond in COH and CHO. Compared to Ni(211), the Ni3Fe(211)-AB surface could facilitate CO activation especially for the most possible CHO intermediate mechanism, whose rate-limiting step is found to be altered. The d-band center theory and Mulliken charge analysis are also employed to explain the activity difference between Ni3Fe(211)-AB and Ni3Fe(211)-AA. The significant structural sensitivity of CO dissociation highlights the importance of Fe locating in the step edge and the high reactivity of Ni3Fe(211)-AB is largely ascribed to the synergistic effect between Ni and Fe at the step edge.

The reductive coupling of aldehydes to afford pinacolic alcohols using all kinds of reducing agents involving samarium is well known. In this report, however, treatment of aromatic aldehydes with Cu(I)/Sm system produces benoins and/or benzils in good yields. A possible mechanism is proposed where Cu(I) not only activates the Sm metal but also promotes the dehydrogenation of the intermediates, during which a Cu(III) species may be involved. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® for the following free supplemental resource(s): Full experimental and spectral details.]

In the title compound, C16H12Cl2O3, the benzene rings form a dihedral angle of 2.0 (3)°. Within the central O=C—CH2C(H)OH—C=O unit, the carbonyl groups are coplanar and lie to opposite sides [O—C...C—O = −170.1 (6)°]. In the crystal, intermolecular O—H...O hydrogen bonds formed between the hydroxy groups lead to a supramolecular chain along the c axis. In addition, the crystal packing features some very weak C—H...π interactions.