An NHC-CuCl functionalized metal–organic framework for catalyzing β-boration of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

Abstract

A microporous metal–organic framework functionalized with in situ generated NHC-CuCl units (1) has been successfully synthesized from a novel imidazolium-containing ligand. In particular, the MOF 1 can catalyze β-boration of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, while the isoreticular version of 1 (1-im) modified with only imidazolium moiety cannot. This work demonstrates for the first time the heterogeneous catalysis of NHC-Cu(I)Cl within a MOF solid.