Visible-Light-Active Titanium Sulfonate Framework for Photocatalytic Organic Synthesis

In this work, the first visible-light-active titanium
sulfonate
metal–organic framework (denoted as FIR-138) with 2-fold interpenetrated
srs topology was synthesized by employing 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzenedisulfonic
acid (H4DOBSC) as ligands. The strong chelating coordination
ability of the hydroxyl and sulfonate O atoms from H4DOBSC
endows the framework of FIR-138 with good stability, while the formation
of the Ti-phenolic motif ensures excellent visible light absorption
with a bandgap (Eg) of 1.74 eV. More importantly,
the extensive titanium active sites within the structure could trap
the photogenerated electrons and promote the charge separation effectively,
attributed to the excellent visible light photocatalytic performance
in organic reaction. FIR-138’s capability to harness visible
light for photocatalytic reactions presents a promising advancement
in the field of Ti-MOF photocatalysts. These results provide valuable
insights and open up new avenues for the rational design and synthesis
of visible-light-active Ti-MOF photocatalysts.