A Lamellar Coordination Polymer with Remarkable Catalytic Activity

A positively charged lamellar coordination polymer based on a flexible triphosphonic acid linker is reported. [Gd(H(4)nmp)(H2O)(2)]Cl center dot 2H(2)O (1) [H(6)nmp=nitrilotris(methylene-phosphonic acid)] was obtained by a one-pot approach by using water as a green solvent and by forcing the inclusion of additional acid sites by employing HCl in the synthesis. Compound 1 acts as a versatile heterogeneous acid catalyst with outstanding activity in organic reactions such as alcoholysis of styrene oxide, acetalization of benzaldehyde and cyclohexanaldehyde and ketalization of cyclohexanone. For all reaction systems, very high conversions were reached (92-97%) in only 15-30 min under mild conditions (35 degrees C, atmospheric pressure). The coordination polymer exhibits a protonic conductivity of 1.23 x 10(-5) Scm(-1) at 98% relative humidity and 40 degrees C.