Engineering metal–organic frameworks immobilize gold catalysts for highly efficient one-pot synthesis of propargylamines

Engineering metal–organic frameworks (MOF) for heterogeneous catalysts have been of extreme interest since they could bridge the gap between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. We have designed and synthesized gold functionalized IRMOF-3 catalysts by post-covalent modification (PM) and one-pot (OP) synthesis methods. The gold functionalized IRMOF-3 catalysts provide an efficient, economic, and novel route for the one-pot synthesis of structurally divergent propargylamines via three component coupling of alkyne, amine, and aldehyde (A3) without any additives or an inert atmosphere. The catalysts were characterized in depth to understand their structure–property relationship. It was shown that the 4.6%Au/IRMOF-3 catalyst, prepared by the PM method, contains a fraction of cationic gold (Au3+/Au0 = 0.2), which shows much higher catalytic activity than that of 3.2% or 0.6%Au/IRMOF-3 prepared by OP method, although the former exhibits much lower crystallinity than the latter two catalysts. Notably, the catalytic activity of the Au/IRMOF-3 catalysts could be significantly enhanced at a moderate reaction temperature (150 °C). All the Au/IRMOF-3 catalysts can be easily recycled and used repetitively at least 5 times, especially the catalysts prepared by the OP method, which showed no drop in activity for the successive 5 uses. These features render the catalysts particularly attractive in the practice of propargylamines synthesis in an environmentally friendly manner.