Mechano-catalysis boosts glycolaldehyde conversion to tetroses over a new Zn-COF catalyst

Abstract

In this communication, we report a new covalent organic framework (COF) material, Zn-COF, and estimated its catalytic performance on higher sugar generation from glycolaldehyde through the formose reaction. The results confirmed that Zn-COF presented highest reaction efficiency under mechano-catalysis conditions with 62.7% glycolaldehyde conversion in 2 h and a normalized reaction rate (R_g) of 31.35 × 10⁻⁴ mol h⁻¹ g⁻¹.