MIL-101(Cr)/aminoclay nanocomposites for conversion of CO into cyclic carbonates

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2024-10, Vol.53 (38), p.15815-15825
• Main Authors: Jyoti, Kumari, Sarita, Chakraborty, Samiran, Kanoo, Prakash, Kumar, Vinod, Chakraborty, Anindita
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/d4dt00849a

We present the use of an amine functionalized two-dimensional clay i.e. , aminoclay (AC), in the chemistry of a three-dimensional metal-organic framework (MOF) i.e. , MIL-101(Cr), to prepare MIL-101(Cr)/AC composites, which are exploited as catalysts for efficient conversion of CO 2 gas into cyclic carbonates under ambient reaction conditions. Three different MOF nanocomposites, denoted as MIL-101(Cr)/AC-1 , MIL-101(Cr)/AC-2 , and MIL-101(Cr)/AC-3 , were synthesized by an in situ process by adding different amounts of AC to the precursor solutions of the MIL-101(Cr). The composites were characterized by various techniques such as FT-IR, PXRD, FESEM, EDX, TGA, N 2 adsorption, as well as CO 2 and NH 3 -TPD measurements. The composites were exploited as heterogeneous catalysts for CO 2 cycloaddition reactions with different epoxides and the catalytic activity was investigated at atmospheric pressure under solvent-free conditions. Among all the materials, MIL-101(Cr)/AC-2 shows the best catalytic efficiency under the optimized conditions and exhibits enhanced efficacy compared to various MIL-101(Cr)-based MOF catalysts, which typically need either high temperature and pressure or a longer reaction time or a combination of all the parameters. The present protocol using MIL-101(Cr)/AC-2 as the heterogeneous catalyst gives 99.9% conversion for all the substrates into the products at atmospheric pressure. We present the use of an amine functionalized 2D aminoclay (AC), in MOF chemistry to prepare MIL-101(Cr)/AC composites, which are exploited as catalysts for efficient conversion of CO 2 into cyclic carbonates at ambient reaction conditions.