Hydrocarbon transformations in Metal-Organic Frameworks

Eric Metzger, Robert Comito, Mircea Dinc

77 Massachusetts Avenue, Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge
MA 02144

For decades, porous materials have been developed for heterogeneous

catalysis. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have an unparalleled
tunability for solid-state materials, presenting a rare opportunity to
impart molecular level control to heterogeneous catalysts. Mild cation
exchange at the secondary building units of MOFs enables access to
well defined, site-isolated transition metal clusters that often have no
direct homogeneous analog. We will present efforts to utilize the rare
environments afforded by these soft cation exchange techniques to
catalyze hydrocarbon transformations, with an emphasis on ethylene
oligomerization.