Surface functionalization of metal-organic polyhedron for homogeneous cyclopropanation catalysis

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/c1cc00030f

A super-paddlewheel (comprised of two paddlewheels) metal-organic polyhedron (MOP) containing surface hydroxyl groups was synthesized and characterized. Condensation reactions with linear alkyl anhydrides lead to new MOPs with enhanced solubility. As a re

Full text of DOI:10.1039/c1cc00030f

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COMMUNICATION
Surface functionalization of metal–organic polyhedron for homogeneous
cyclopropanation catalysisw
Weigang Lu, Daqiang Yuan, Andrey Yakovenko and Hong-Cai Zhou*
Received 3rd January 2011, Accepted 8th March 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1cc00030f
A super-paddlewheel (comprised of two paddlewheels) metal–
organic polyhedron (MOP) containing surface hydroxyl groups
was synthesized and characterized. Condensation reactions with
linear alkyl anhydrides lead to new MOPs with enhanced
solubility. As a result, the surface-modified MOP 4 was demon-
strated as a homogeneous Lewis-acid catalyst.
Therefore, the synthesis of novel MOPs becomes a difficult
task; appropriate reaction conditions have to be found for
each novel linker.
To take on the solubility and synthetic challenges, we
developed a general surface-functionalization strategy of
pre-assembled MOPs as an alternative synthetic route to the
de novo self-assembly. Modifying MOFs has grown substan-
tially in the past few years;9 however, modifying pre-assembled
MOPs has rarely been studied. First, a super-paddlewheel
(comprised of two paddlewheels) MOP (MOP 1) with four
hydroxyl groups was synthesized and characterized. Reactions
between MOP 1 and a series of alkyl anhydride have led to MOPs
containing the same core structure, with carbon chains of different
lengths on the exterior (Fig. 1). Solubility has been fine-tuned by
such a surface-functionalization strategy. As a result, MOP 4
becomes soluble in non-coordinating solvents after surface
modification, ideal for homogeneous Lewis-acid catalysis.
MOP 1 was formed spontaneously when H2L was mixed
with copper nitrate in the presence of 2,6-lutidine in an
appropriate solvent mixture. Interestingly, two different types
of inter-MOP interaction have been observed when different
solvent systems were used. In crystals of MOP 1a, adjacent
MOPs connect to each other through coordination bonds between
hydroxyl groups from one MOP and copper atoms of the other
MOP; in crystals of MOP 1b, however, MOPs pack via p–p
stacking, with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) molecules bound to the
copper atoms on the exterior of each MOP (Fig. 1).
Emerged as an exciting new branch of supramolecular chemistry,
metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs, also known as molecular
polyhedra, nanoballs, nanocontainers, or nanocages) have
attracted a great deal of attention in the past decade because
of their aesthetically pleasing structures, and intriguing applica-
tion potential in chemical sensing, catalysis, gas storage, drug
delivery, and separation.1 Further studies of MOPs have been
largely focused on functionalization of the inner or outer
surfaces for various applications.2
Dicopper paddlewheel structural unit is a commonly used
building block in the construction of MOPs.3 It occurs to us
that these MOPs can serve as potential Lewis-acid catalysts
when the axial ligands on the copper atoms are removed.
They can be used as homogeneous catalysts if soluble in non-
coordinating solvent. To the best of our knowledge, of all the
MOPs based on dicopper paddlewheel structural units, those
that are soluble in non-coordinating solvents are very rare.4
MOPs that are not soluble tend to aggregate. Unlike uniformly
constructed MOFs (metal–organic frameworks),5 whose inter-
connected channels and cavities allow reactants and products
to shuttle, MOP aggregation is detrimental to catalysis6
because most of the active sites will be blocked and inaccessible.
Dicopper paddlewheel MOFs were used as Lewis-acid hetero-
geneous catalysts due to the presence of copper atoms with open
coordination sites once the coordinating solvents were removed.7
However, utilization of dicopper paddlewheel MOPs as homo-
geneous catalysts in non-coordinating solvent has rarely been
explored, presumably due to the lack of such MOPs. In
addition, the self-assembly process of MOPs depends on many
factors and may not lead to desired MOPs exclusively.8
Preliminary N2 sorption studies of the activated MOP 1, in
which terminal ligands were removed, revealed a Langmuir
surface area of 181 m2 gÀ1 (BET 160 m2 gÀ1) (Fig. 2). Both
N2 and H2 uptakes are relatively low with respect to the calculated
accessible surface area, presumably because of the blockage of
the open windows of the MOPs with random orientations
in the activated sample, which is typically amorphous.3c
Although the possibility of structural disintegration cannot
be completely ruled out, given the fact that the activated MOP
1 and MOPs 1a as well as 1b are interconvertible, it is safe to
assume that the polyhedron intactness of MOP 1 on the
molecular level and its porosity should be maintained.10
It is foreseeable that a reaction of a MOP is much more
difficult than that of its precursor ligand for the following
reasons: (1) solubility: as a large molecule, MOP is usually
not soluble in conventional solvents; (2) stability: dicopper
paddlewheel is a delicate building unit, the reaction condition
Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station,
TX 77843, USA. E-mail: zhou@mail.chem.tamu.edu;
Fax: +1 979 845 4719; Tel: +1 979 845 4034
w Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental
details, crystallographic data, TGA, PXRD, IR, HPLC data, extra gas
sorption isotherms. CCDC 797901–797905. For ESI and crystallographic
data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c1cc00030f.
c
4968 Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 4968–4970
This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

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Fig. 1 Reaction scheme for the self-assembly of super-paddlewheels MOP 1a and MOP 1b; interconversion of MOP 1a, MOP 1b, and activated
MOP 1; reaction scheme of surface modification of MOP 1 with linear alkyl anhydrides. Hydrogen atoms were omitted for clarity.
recovered diacids were checked with 1H-NMR (Fig. 3). No
detectable amount of unreacted H2L (Fig. 3 black) in any of the
recovered ligands (Fig. 3 red, blue, and green) was found, which
was indicative of the completion of the condensation reactions.
Given the crystal structure and solubility in a non-coordinating
solvent of MOP 4, the catalytic reactivity of activated MOP 4
was tested for cyclopropanation reaction of styrene with ethyl
diazoacetate (EDA). Compared to other copper catalysts,
such as a representative homogeneous catalyst (Cu–H), copper
complexes supported on ultrastable Zeolite Y (Cu–USY) or
MCM-41 mesoporous silica (Cu–MCM-41),11 as well as a
metal–organic framework [Cu3(BTC)2],7f MOP 4 displays
Fig. 2 N2 and H2 sorption isotherms of activated MOP 1 at 77 K.
similar or better activity and selectivity (Table 1).
has to be mild; (3) separation: conventional methods such as
flash chromatography and recrystallization are not applicable.
Fortunately after a few attempts, a suitable combination of
reaction conditions and separation procedures was developed.
When treated with alkyl anhydride in N,N-dimethylformamide
(DMF) in the presence of 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) at
room temperature overnight, MOP 1 was quantitatively con-
verted into MOP 2, MOP 3, or MOP 4, respectively.
For comparison, the activated MOP 1 was also tested with
the same reaction, and showed almost no catalytic activity
(entry 7, Table 1). An additional observation is that the
The right amount of DMAP was crucial to this reaction,
normal catalytic amount of DMAP (o10%) led to an incomplete
reaction, probably due to DMAP preferentially coordinating
to copper sites; excessive amount of DMAP led to collapse of
the dicopper paddlewheel unit, accompanied by a color change
from blue to brown. Approximately, 1.2 equivalents of DMAP
were needed for this reaction.
To verify the products, we obtained crystals of all three
surface-modified MOPs with sufficient quality for single crystal
X-ray analysis (see ESIw).
Fig. 3 1H-NMR (DMSO-d6): black, R = H (H2L); red, R = CH3
(extract from HCl decomposed MOP 2); blue, R = C5H11 (extract
from HCl decomposed MOP 3), green, R = C11H23 (extract from HCl
decomposed MOP 4).
NMR was employed to verify bulk product purity and the
completion of the surface modification. As-synthesized MOP
2, 3, or 4 was dissolved with 1 mol LÀ1 HCl to release their
respective ligand, which was extracted with ethyl acetate. The
c
This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011
Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 4968–4970 4969

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Table 1 Catalytic data of cyclopropanation reactions of styrene with
EDA
Notes and references
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Entry
Catalyst (amounta)
Run
Yield (%)b
Trans/cis
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
MOP 4c (1 mol%)d
MOP 4c (1 mol%)d
Cu–H (5 mol%)
Cu–USY (5 mol%)
Cu–MCM-41(5 mol%)
[Cu3(BTC)2] (5 mol%)
MOP 1c (1 mol%)
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
89
81
74
32
2.7e
2.7e
2.0
1.9
2.0
60
98
2.3
n.a.f
n.a.f
a
b
Catalyst loading. Yield of cyclopropane, based on EDA. Preactived
c
(methanol exchange 3 times, dynamic vacuum at 120 1C overnight).
d
Reaction condition: catalyst/EDA/styrene = 1/100/200, CH2Cl2, 25 1C,
10 h addition of EDA and then stirring for 10 h. Determined by
e
f
HPLC. Catalyst decomposed (color changed from blue to brown).
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The US Department of Energy (DOE DE-SC0001015,
DE-FC36-07GO17033, and DE-AR0000073), the National
Science Foundation (NSF CBET-0930079 and CHE-0911207),
and the Welch Foundation (A-1725) supported this work.
The microcrystal diffraction of MOP 4 was carried out with
the assistance of Yu-Sheng Chen at the Advanced Photon
Source on beamline 15ID-B at ChemMatCARS Sector 15,
which is principally supported by the NSF/DOE under
grant number CHE-0535644. Use of the Advanced Photon
Source was supported by the U. S. DOE, Office of
Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No.
DE-AC02-06CH11357.
c
4970 Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 4968–4970
This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011