New porous Co(II)-metal organic framework for high sorption selectivity and affinity for CO2, and efficient catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohols to benzaldehydes

Herein, we report a new 3D porous Co(II)-based metal–organic framework catalyst (Me2NH2)2[Co3(L)2(H2O)2]·2DMF (MOF I), which has been successfully prepared by using Co(II) ions and rigid V-shaped 3,5-di(2,4-dicarboxylphenyl)pyridine (H4L) via the solvothermal reaction. Structural analysis reveals that I displays a porous structure with the pore size of 16.2 × 7.2 A2 based on the trinuclear [Co3(COO)4(H2O)2N2] secondary building units (SBUs). Gas sorption experiments on the guest free sample I′ reveals a high capacity and selectivity to CO2 over CH4. And further, the catalytic explorations of the I′-catalyzed system (I′: 3 mol%; proline: 40 mol%; CH3CN: 2 mL) reveal that benzyl alcohols with different structures can be efficiently transformed into benzyl alcohols without by-products under mild conditions.