Coordination-Induced N-H Bond Splitting of Ammonia and Primary Amine of CuI -MOFs

Chemistry. 2021 Jul 2;27(37):9499-9502. doi: 10.1002/chem.202100781. Epub 2021 Jun 1.

Abstract

We report a porous three-dimensional anionic tetrazolium based CuI -MOF 1, which is capable of cleaving the N-H bond of ammonia and primary amine, as well as the O-H bond of H2 O along with spontaneous H2 evolution. In the gas-solid phase reaction of 1 with ammonia and water vapor, CuI -MOF 1 was gradually oxidized to NH2 -CuII -MOF and OH-CuII -MOF, through single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) structural transformations, which was confirmed by XPS, PXRD and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Density functional theory (DFT) demonstrated that CuI -MOF could lower N-H bond dissociation free energy of ammonia through coordination-induced bond weakening and promote H2 evolution by the reduction potential of 1. To our knowledge, this is the first example of MOFs that activate ammonia and amine in gas-solid manner.

Keywords: SC to SC; coordination-induced bond weakening; gas-solid phase; oxidation of NH3.