A facile strategy of designing a new crystalline cobalt metal-organic framework as a new efficient and robust heterogeneous catalyst for olefin oxidation reaction

A novel three-dimensional (3D) metal-organic compound Co3(BDC)3(DMF)2(H2O)4.2DMF (DMF= N,N-dimethylformamide; BDC= 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate) (Co-BDC (1)) has been synthesized under solvothermal method using Co2+ salt and BDC as a rigid ligand. The material was structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SXRD), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric (TGA), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and elemental (CHN) techniques. Oxidation of some olefins was evaluated with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) in acetonitrile in the presence of Co-BDC (2) (activated Co-BDC (1)) as a heterogeneous catalyst. Among the substrates used for the oxidation reaction, desirable conversions of 97 %, 81.6 %, and 76 % were obtained for cyclooctene, 1-hexene, and norbornene, respectively. Finally, the catalyst was recycled and reused (four times) without a remarkable decrease in the catalytic activity.