Hydrogen bonding controlled catalysis of a porous organic framework containing benzimidazole moieties

Abstract

A microporous organic framework (JUC-Z12) was synthesized quantitatively from tetra(4-formylphenyl)methane and 3,3′-diaminobenzidine. JUC-Z12 shows high thermal stability (>400 °C), a large surface area (S_BET = 750 m² g⁻¹), a well-defined uniform micropore distribution (1.09 nm) and high Q_st for H₂ (−8.1 kJ mol⁻¹), CO₂ (−29.5 kJ mol⁻¹), and CH₄ (−22.2 kJ mol⁻¹). It also exhibits selective catalytic activities in the Knoevenagel reaction, which is supposed to be controlled by hydrogen bonding between substrates and JUC-Z12. The JUC-Z12 catalyst can be easily isolated from the reaction mixture by simple filtration and reused with high activity.