Co-MOF-74@Cu-MOF-74 Derived Bifunctional Co-C@Cu-C for One-Pot Production of 1, 4-Diphenyl-1, 3-Butadiene from Phenylacetylene

Carbon-supported metal nanoparticles (NPs) play important roles in heterogeneous catalysis. In particular, supported bimetallic catalytic systems can be promising multifunctional catalysts for one-pot tandem/cascade reactions, in which two or more successive independent reactions are realized in one pot. In this manuscript, we report the preparation of a carbon-supported bimetallic CoCu catalytic system (Co-C@Cu-C), with Co NPs wrapped by carbon-supported Cu NPs, from the pyrolysis of a core-shell structured Co-MOF-74@Cu-MOF-74. The as-obtained Co-C@Cu-C acts as a bifunctional catalyst for the transformation of phenylacetylene to 1, 4-diphenyl-1, 3-butadiene in one pot, in which supported metallic Cu NPs and Co NPs are active for the coupling and hydrogenation reaction respectively. By tuning the reaction rates of the coupling and the hydrogenation in this tandem reaction over the Co-C@Cu-C via changing the reaction medium and the reducing agent, an efficient direct transformation of phenylacetylene to 1, 4-diphenyl-1, 3-butadiene was realized. This work not only highlights the important role of MOFs in the preparation of multifunctional carbon supported metal NPs for heterogeneous catalysis, but also demonstrates the possibility of tuning the reaction rates of different catalytic steps in a tandem reaction to realize an efficient overall reaction.