Repair of missing linker defects in UiO-66 by a “molecular patch” boosting the 1-hexene hydroformylation reaction

Abstract

Fabrication of MOFs with missing linker defects has become a common means to improve catalytic performances. However, the stability of the defects deserves to be investigated first. In this work, we found that 3-phenylpropionaldehyde (3-PPA) could coordinate with the missing linker defects of UiO-66, which highlighted the instability of the missing linker defects. 3-PPA acted as a molecular patch for the modification of the Rh/UiO-66 catalyst, which repaired the open Zr₆ sites and resulted in a remarkable improvement of aldehyde selectivity (from 50.0% to 89.6%) in 1-hexene hydroformylation.