Ordered Mesoporous Metal Organic Frameworks Incorporated with Amorphous TiO2 As Photocatalyst for Selective Aerobic Oxidation in Sunlight Irradiation

Among the very few efforts for preparation of stable mesoporous metal organic frameworks (MOFs), there is no report of an additive-free example via a surfactant-assisted templating method. On the other hand, photocatalytic aerobic oxidation of alcohols mediated by crystalline TiO2 has been known as a green route, which has the potential to replace current technology with transition-metal-containing heterogeneous systems. Here, a simple procedure for preparation of HKUST-1 containing ordered mesoporous domains has been developed using nonionic block copolymer in DMF as the solvent. All materials have been thoroughly characterized by FTIR, FESEM, HRTEM, XRPD, EDS, and TG analysis. Subsequently, it has been demonstrated that incorporation of amorphous TiO2 within the prepared mesoporous MOP could successfully develope a new type of photocatalyst system for selective aerobic oxidation of benzylic alcohols with moderate to high yields in sunlight irradiation.