Fast-synthesis and catalytic property of heterogeneous Co-MOF catalysts for the epoxidation of α-pinene with air

Abstract

In the past decades, many methods have been developed for synthesizing MOFs, including solvothermal synthesis, mechanical synthesis, electrochemical synthesis, and microwave synthesis. Based on the existing research, a method is proposed for synthesizing Co-MOF by rapidly rotating hydrothermal crystallization, which largely shortens the crystallization time of Co-MOF. When the rotation speed was 150 rpm, only 2 h of crystallization time was needed to synthesize Co-MOF-150-2 with high crystallinity and stability. The optimal Co-MOF-150-2 manifested remarkable activity and selectivity for the epoxidation of α-pinene under mild conditions. The catalytic conversion of α-pinene reached the highest over the Co-MOF-150-2 catalyst, in which the conversion of α-pinene was 99.5% and the yield of 2,3-epoxypinane was 95.7%. The Co-MOF materials synthesized by the rotary method also had excellent stability and highly catalytic activity in recycling experiments.