Salicylaldimine-Based Metal-Organic Framework Enabling Highly Active Olefin Hydrogenation with Iron and Cobalt Catalysts

A robust and porous Zr metal organic framework, sal-MOF, of UiO topology was synthesized using a salicylaldimine (sal)-derived dicarboxylate bridging ligand. Postsynthetic metalation of sal-MOP with iron(II) or cobalt(II) chloride followed by treatment with NaBEt3H in THF resulted in Fe- and Co-functionalized MOFs (sal-M-MOF, M = Fe, Co) which are highly active solid catalysts for alkene hydrogenation. Impressively, sal-Fe-MOF displayed very high turnover numbers of up to 145000 and was recycled and reused more than 15 times. This work highlights the unique opportunity of developing MOF-based earth-abundant catalysts for sustainable chemical synthesis.