Rational Synthesis of UiO-66 and its Application in the Hydrogenation Reaction of p-Chloronitrobenzene

Abstract

Hydrogenation is a widely used reaction in the oil processing and industrial organic synthesis. UiO-66 is a promising porous organic-inorganic material that can be used as a support for catalytically active particles. The key part in the application of highly porous UiO-66 is the search of a simple synthesis method that meets international environmental standards. In this study, a “rational” method for the synthesis of MOFs was used to produce UiO-66. The use of pre-synthesized multinuclear zirconia clusters facilitates the synthesis of the desired network topology, enabling the process to be conducted in an environmentally friendly aqueous solution. The effects of reaction temperature, linker volume concentration and solvent type on the specific surface area and thermal properties were also evaluated in this work. We studied the composition, structure and physicochemical properties of the obtained compounds by IR spectroscopy, TGA and XRD analysis. The proposed procedure has been shown to yield UiO-66 with high specific surface area (SBET = 885 m2/g) and to extend the thermal stability range up to 490 °C. The post-synthetic modification of the obtained UiO-66 with the introduction of catalytically active Pd (Pd/UiO-66) was carried out, and high selectivity (83,0 %) of the obtained Pd/UiO-66 exhibited high selectivity in the hydrogenation reaction of p-chloronitrobenzene into p-chloroaniline in comparison with the traditional Pd/Al2O3.