Introducing Nonstructural Ligands to Zirconia-like Metal-Organic Framework Nodes to Tune the Activity of Node-Supported Nickel Catalysts for Ethylene Hydrogenation

Previous work has shown that introduction of hexafluoroacetylacetone (Facac) units as nonstructural ligands for the zirconia-like nodes of the eight-connected metal–organic framework (MOF), NU-1000, greatly alters the selectivity of node-supported oxy-nickel clusters for ethylene dimerization vs oligomerization. Here we explore a related concept: tuning of support/catalyst interactions, and therefore, catalyst activity, via parallel installation of organic modifiers on the support itself. As modifiers we focused on para-substituted benzoates (R-BA–; R = −NH2, −OCH3, −CH3, −H, −F, and −NO2) where the substituents were chosen to present similar steric demand, but varying electron-donating or electron-withdrawing properties. R-benzoate-engendered shifts in the node-based aqua O–H stretching frequency for NU-1000, as measured by DRIFTS (diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy), together with systematic shifts in Ni 2p peak energies, as measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, show tha...