Preparation of Zr-MOF Catalyst and its application in synthesis of trimethylolethane

Twelve metal-organic skeleton (MOFs) polymers were catalyzed and screened. Zr-MOF-J was selected as the best catalyst and characterized. We use a variety of analytical techniques to thoroughly characterize the best performing catalysts including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunner−Emmet−Teller (BET) measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (13C-NMR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The characterization results unequivocally demonstrated that the synthesized catalyst was a porous polymer with exceptional heat stability. The catalytic performance of the catalyst was evaluated by synthesis of trimethylolethane from formaldehyde and propionaldehyde. The optimal reaction conditions were as follows: the catalyst amount accounted for 20%（wt%） of propionicaldehydemass, the reaction temperature was maintained at 65 ℃, the reaction time was 2.5 h, the molar ratio of propionaldehyde to formaldehyde was 1:3. Under these optimal conditions, the conversion rate of propionaldehyde was up to 98.34% and the selectivity of trimethylolethane was 86.9%. Notably, the catalytic activity did not significantly diminish even after being reused five times.