A Mesoporous Indium Metal-Organic Framework: Remarkable Advances in Catalytic Activity for Strecker Reaction of Ketones

With the aim of developing new highly porous, heterogeneous Lewis acid catalysts for multi component reactions, a new mesoporous metal organic framework, InPF-110 ( [In3O(btb)(2)(HCOO)(L)] (H(3)btb = 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene acid, L = methanol, water, or ethanol), has been prepared with indium as the metal center. It exhibits a Langmuir surface area of 1470 m(2) g(-1), and its structure consists of hexagonal pores with a 2.8 nm aperture, which allows the diffusion of multiple substrates. This material presents a large density of active metal sites resulting in outstanding catalytic activity in the formation of substituted alpha-aminonitriles through the one pot Strecker reaction of ketones. In this respect, InPF-110 stands out compared to other catalysts for this reaction due to the small catalyst loadings required, and without the need for heat or solvents. Furthermore, X-ray single crystal diffraction studies clearly show the framework substrate interaction through coordination to the accessible indium sites.