Palladium Nanoparticles Encapsulated in the MIL-101-Catalyzed One-Pot Reaction of Alcohol Oxidation and Aldimine Condensation

Abstract

A bifunctional catalyst, Pd nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated in MIL-101, has been synthesized by capillary impregnation. The as-prepared Pd@MIL-101 was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, N₂ physisorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy, indicating that Pd NPs were highly dispersed in the pores of MIL-101 without deposition of the nanoparticles on the external surface or aggregation. The bifunctional catalyst of Pd@MIL-101 exhibited highly catalytic activity for alcohol oxidation and aldimine condensation one-pot reactions, where Pd NPs affords good oxidation activity and MIL-101 offers Lewis acidity. In particular, Pd@MIL-101 yielded an effective catalytic performance with toluene as the solvent, K₂CO₃ as the co-catalyst, and 353 K as the optimum reaction temperature for the one-pot reaction. After five cycles of reuse, Pd@MIL-101 still shows high catalytic performance. Above all, it is found that the enhanced catalytic performance was achieved via the synergistic cooperation of MIL-101 and Pd NPs.