Matthias Vandichel

Synthesis Modulation as a Tool To Increase the Catalytic Activity of Metal–Organic Frameworks: The Unique Case of UiO-66(Zr)

The catalytic activity of the zirconium terephthalate UiO-66(Zr) can be drastically increased by using a modulation approach. The combined use of trifluoroacetic acid and HCl during the synthesis results in a highly crystalline material, with partial substitution of terephthalates by trifluoroacetate. Thermal activation of the material leads not only to dehydroxylation of the hexanuclear Zr cluster but also to post-synthetic removal of the trifluoroacetate groups, resulting in a more open framework with a large number of open sites. Consequently, the material is a highly active catalyst for several Lewis acid catalyzed reactions.

Electronic effects of linker substitution on Lewis acid catalysis with metal-organic frameworks.

Functionalized linkers can greatly increase the activity of metal-organic framework (MOF) catalysts with coordinatively unsaturated sites. A clear linear free-energy relationship (LFER) was found between Hammett σ(m) values of the linker substituents X and the rate k(X) of a carbonyl-ene reaction. This is the first LFER ever observed for MOF catalysts. A 56-fold increase in rate was found when the substituent is a nitro group.

First Principle Kinetic Studies of Zeolite-Catalyzed Methylation Reactions

Methylations of ethene, propene, and butene by methanol over the acidic microporous H-ZSM-5 catalyst are studied by means of state of the art computational techniques, to derive Arrhenius plots and rate constants from first principles that can directly be compared with the experimental data. For these key elementary reactions in the methanol to hydrocarbons (MTH) process, direct kinetic data became available only recently [J. Catal.2005, 224, 115-123; J. Catal.2005, 234, 385-400]. At 350 °C, apparent activation energies of 103, 69, and 45 kJ/mol and rate constants of 2.6 × 10(-4), 4.5 × 10(-3), and 1.3 × 10(-2) mol/(g h mbar) for ethene, propene, and butene were derived, giving following relative ratios for methylation k(ethene)/k(propene)/k(butene) = 1:17:50. In this work, rate constants including pre-exponential factors are calculated which give very good agreement with the experimental data: apparent activation energies of 94, 62, and 37 kJ/mol for ethene, propene, and butene are found, and relative ratios of methylation k(ethene)/k(propene)/k(butene) = 1:23:763. The entropies of gas phase alkenes are underestimated in the harmonic oscillator approximation due to the occurrence of internal rotations. These low vibrational modes were substituted by manually constructed partition functions. Overall, the absolute reaction rates can be calculated with near chemical accuracy, and qualitative trends are very well reproduced. In addition, the proposed scheme is computationally very efficient and constitutes significant progress in kinetic modeling of reactions in heterogeneous catalysis.

The remarkable catalytic activity of the saturated metal organic framework V-MIL-47 in the cyclohexene oxidation

The remarkable catalytic activity of the saturated metal organic framework MIL-47 in the epoxidation of cyclohexene is elucidated by means of both experimental results and theoretical calculations.

Active site engineering in UiO-66 type metal–organic frameworks by intentional creation of defects: a theoretical rationalization

The catalytic activity of the Zr-benzenedicarboxylate (Zr-BDC) UiO-66 can be drastically increased if some BDC linkers are missing, as this removes the full coordination of the framework metal ions. As a result, metal centers become more accessible and thus more active for Lewis acid catalysed reactions. Addition of modulators (MDL) to the synthesis mixture can create more linker deficiencies (Vermoortele et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 11465) and leads to a significant increase in the catalytic activity due to the creation of a larger number of open sites. In this paper, we rationalize the function of the modulators under real synthesis conditions by the construction of free energy diagrams. The UiO-66 type materials form a very appropriate test case as the effect of addition of modulators hydrochloric acid (HCl) and trifluoroacetate (TFA) has been intensively investigated experimentally for the synthesis process and post-synthetic thermal activation. Under synthesis conditions, direct removal of BDC linkers requires a high free energy, but replacement of such linker by one or more TFA species might occur especially at high TFA : BDC ratios in the reaction mixture. Post-synthesis activation procedures at higher temperatures lead to substantial removal of the species coordinated to the Zr bricks, creating open metal sites. A mechanistic pathway is presented for the dehydroxylation process of the hexanuclear Zr cluster. For the citronellal cyclization, we show that the presence of some residual TFA in the structure may lead to faster reactions in complete agreement with the experiment. Hirshfeld-e partial charges for the Zr ions have been computed to investigate their sensitivity to substituent effects; a strong correlation with the experimental Hammett parameters and with the rates of the citronellal cyclization is found. The theoretical rationalization may serve as a basis for detailed active site engineering studies.

Full Theoretical Cycle for both Ethene and Propene Formation during Methanol-to-Olefin Conversion in H-ZSM-5

The methanol‐to‐olefin (MTO) process, catalyzed by acidic zeolites such as H‐ZSM‐5, provides an increasingly important alternative to the production of light olefins from crude oil. However, the various mechanistic proposals for methanol‐to‐olefin conversion have been strongly disputed for the past several decades. This work provides theoretical evidence that the experimentally suggested ‘alkene cycle’, part of a co‐catalytic hydrocarbon pool, offers a viable path to the production of both propene and ethene, in stark contrast to the often‐ proposed direct mechanisms. This specific proposal hinges on repeated methylation reactions of alkenes, starting from propene, which occur easily within the zeolite environment. Subsequent cracking steps regenerate the original propene molecule, while also forming new propene and ethene molecules as primary products. Because the host framework stabilizes intermediate carbenium ions, isomerization and deprotonation reactions are extremely fast. Combined with earlier joint experimental and theoretical work on polymethylbenzenes as active hydrocarbon pool species, it is clear that, in zeolite H‐ZSM‐5, multiple parallel and interlinked routes operate on a competitive basis.

Ab initio parametrized force field for the flexible metal-organic framework MIL-53(Al)

A force field is proposed for the flexible metal-organic framework MIL-53(Al), which is calibrated using density functional theory calculations on nonperiodic clusters. The force field has three main contributions: an electrostatic term based on atomic charges derived with a modified Hirshfeld-I method, a van der Waals (vdW) term with parameters taken from the MM3 model, and a valence force field whose parameters were estimated with a new methodology that uses the gradients and Hessian matrix elements retrieved from nonperiodic cluster calculations. The new force field predicts geometries and cell parameters that compare well with the experimental values both for the large and narrow pore phases. The energy profile along the breathing mode of the empty material reveals the existence of two minima, which confirms the intrinsic bistable behavior of the MIL-53. Even without the stimulus of external guest molecules, the material may transform from the large pore (lp) to the narrow pore (np) phase [Liu et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2008, 120, 11813]. The relative stability of the two phases critically depends on the vdW parameters, and the MM3 dispersion interaction has the tendency to overstabilize the np phase.

The Effect of Confined Space on the Growth of Naphthalenic Species in a Chabazite‐Type Catalyst: A Molecular Modeling Study

Methylation reactions of naphthalenic species over the acidic microporous zeolite with chabazite topology have been investigated by means of two‐layered ab initio computations. Large cluster results combined with van der Waals contributions provide thermodynamic and kinetic results of successive methylation steps. The growth of fused bicyclic species is important as these can act as hydrocarbon pool species within the methanol‐to‐olefin (MTO) process, but ultimately leads to the deactivation of the catalyst. The influence of the confined space of the zeolite pore on the resulting transition state or product shape selectivity is investigated in detail.

Base catalytic activity of alkaline earth MOFs: a (micro)spectroscopic study of active site formation by the controlled transformation of structural anions

A new method has been developed for generating highly dispersed base sites on metal–organic framework (MOF) lattices. The base catalytic activity of two alkaline earth MOFs, M2(BTC)(NO3)(DMF) (M = Ba or Sr, H3BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) was studied as a function of their activation procedures. The catalytic activity in Knoevenagel condensation and Michael addition reactions was found to increase strongly with activation temperature. Physicochemical characterization using FTIR, 13C CP MAS NMR, PXRD, XPS, TGA-MS, SEM, EPR, N2 physisorption and nitrate content analysis shows that during activation, up to 85% of the nitrate anions are selectively removed from the structure and replaced with other charge compensating anions such as O2−. The defect sites generated via this activation act as new strong basic sites within the catalyst structure. A fluorescence microscopic visualization of the activity convincingly proves that it is exclusively associated with the hexagonal crystals, and that reaction proceeds inside the crystals interior. Theoretical analysis of the Ba-material shows that the basicity of the proposed Ba2+–O2−–Ba2+ motifs is close to that of the edge sites in BaO.

Vanadium metal-organic frameworks: structures and applications

This perspective review paper describes the V-containing metal–organic frameworks that have been developed since the first systematic reports on MOFs almost 15 years ago. These hybrid crystalline materials, containing V(III) or V(IV) as metal nodes, show interesting behavior in oxidation catalysis and gas sorption. A significant amount of papers has appeared on the use of these structures in gas (hydrocarbon, CO2) separation. Promising future research and development of V-MOFs is suggested.