Urea-containing metal-organic frameworks as heterogeneous organocatalysts

Two novel pillared metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) containing a urea-functional group are introduced. Herein, the urea functional group was incorporated into the MOF backbone by preparing a urea-ditopic ligand. These frameworks (TMU-18 and TMU-19) were fabricated using the synthesized urea-containing ligand, 4,40-bipyridine (bipy) and 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl) ethane (bpe), and using zinc nitrate as the metal source. Subsequently, TMU-18 and TMU-19 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis. Furthermore, their potential efficiency as organocatalysts was evaluated in the regioselective methanolysis of epoxides.