Building a shp: A Rare-Earth Metal-Organic Framework and Its Application in a Catalytic Photooxidation Reaction

The design and synthesis of new metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is important from both a fundamental and application standpoint. In this work, a novel, highly connected rare-earth (RE) MOF with an shp topology is reported, named RE-CU-10 (RE, rare-earth; CU, Concordia University), composed of a nonanuclear RE(III)-cluster node (RE = Y(III) and Tb(III)) and a tetratopic pyrene-based linker. This represents the first time that the 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(p-benzoic acid)pyrene (H(4)TBAPy) linker is integrated in the shp topology. RE-CU-10 is explored as a heterogeneous photocatalyst for the selective oxidation and detoxification of a sulfur mustard simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (2-CEES), with Tb-CU-10 showing a half-life for conversion to the less toxic 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfoxide (2-CEESO) of 3.5 min under O-2 and 22 min under air.