New Functional Metal-Organic Frameworks for (Enantio)selective Catalysis and Separation

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Eike Brunner; Professor Dr. Frank Glorius; Professor Dr. Stefan Kaskel; Professor Dr.-Ing. Elias Klemm
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2008 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 79336567

Limited natural resources and an increasing demand for enantiomerically pure compounds render catalysis, and especially asymmetric catalysis, to be a key technology. Although the field of asymmetric catalysis has been dominated for a long time by homogeneous catalysis because of the excellent selectivity and activity obtained, heterogeneous catalysts can offer even more than facile separation or recycling. It has been shown that activity and selectivity comparing favourably with homogeneous catalysts can be obtained and novel, efficient reaction mechanisms can be employed to solve remaining synthetic problems.The modular de novo construction of chiral MOFs was demonstrated by the consortium in the first phase to be ideal for the integration of catalytically active (chiral) functions. In order to enhance the enantioselectivity in asymmetric catalysis and demonstrate chiral separation using the principles developed so far, an interdisciplinary cooperation between organic chemists (chiral linker synthesis), inorganic chemists (MOF synthesis), analytic chemists (NMR characterization) and technical chemists (chromatographic separation) will provide the complementary expertise needed to demonstrate high enantioselectivity by the rational integration of strong interactions towards the substrate. In the second phase of the project, the consortium will test the applicability of the MOFs achieved in a wider range of separation applications and catalytic transformation of fine chemicals.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1362: Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks