Catalysts Confined in Programmed Framework Pores Enable New Transformations and Tune Reaction Efficiency and Selectivity

Controlling chemical reactions in porous heterogeneous catalysts is a tremendous challenge because of the difficulty in producing uniform active sites that can be tuned with precision. However, analogous to enzymes, when a catalytic pocket provides complementary close contacts and favorable intermolecular interactions with the reaction participants, the reaction efficiency and selectivity may be tuned. Here, we report an isoreticular family of catalysts based on the multicomponent metal–organic framework MUF-77. The microenvironment around the site of catalysis was successfully programmed by introducing functional groups (modulators) to the organic linkers at sites remote from the catalytic unit. The framework catalysts produced in this way exhibit several unique features, including the simultaneous enhancement of both reactivity and stereochemical selectivity in aldol reactions, the ability to catalyze Henry reactions that cannot be accomplished by homogeneous analogs, and discrimination between different reaction pathways (Henry versus aldol) that compete for a common substrate.