Highly Efficient MOF-Driven Silver Subnanometer Clusters for the Catalytic Buchner Ring Expansion Reaction

The preparation of novel efficient catalyststhat could be applicable in industrially important chemical processeshas attracted great interest. Small subnanometer metal clusters can exhibit outstanding catalytic capabilities, and thus, research efforts have been devoted, recently, to synthesize novel catalysts bearing such active sites. Here, we report the gram-scale preparation of Ag-2(0) subnanometer clusters within the channels of a highly crystalline three-dimensional anionic metal-organic framework, with the formula [Ag-2(0)]@(Ag2Na2I)-Na-I{Ni-4(II)[Cu-2(II)(Me(3)mpba)(2)](3)}middot48H(2)O [Me(3)mpba(4-) = N,N '-2,4,6-trimethyl-1,3-phenylenebis(oxamate)]. The resulting crystalline solid catalystfully characterized with the help of single-crystal X-ray diffractionexhibits high catalytic activity for the catalytic Buchner ring expansion reaction.