Exploration of Intrinsic Lipase‐Like Activity of Zirconium‐Based Metal‐Organic Frameworks

Abstract

To overcome the disadvantages of natural enzymes, artificial enzyme mimics attracted increasing attention of researchers. Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) are expected as one of the most appropriate candidates for artificial enzyme mimics. In this work, we demonstrate that the zirconium‐based MOF material UiO‐66 and its analogues possess intrinsic lipase‐like activity and can efficiently catalyze ester hydrolysis, transesterification and esterification reactions. Furthermore, the UiO‐66(NH 2 ) exhibits much higher catalytic activity than that of UiO‐66, which can be attributed to the synergy effect between the zirconium cluster centres and the amino moieties during the catalytic cycle.