Homochiral metal-organic frameworks for industrially relevant asymmetric catalysis

Andreea Gheorghe, Martijn Tepaske, Stefania Tanase

Index: 10.1039/C8QI00063H

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Abstract

Homochiral metal-organic frameworks (HMOFs) are attractive materials for asymmetric catalysis because they have high surface area and uniform active sites. The variety of catalytic applications reported so far indicate that HMOFs catalyse a range of transformations, including cyanosilylation, aldol condensation and hydrogenation reactions. Besides the contribution to fundamental knowledge, it is also important to realise whether the catalytic applications of HMOFs are industrially relevant transformations and how the existing achievements compare to already established enantioselective catalysts. This review gives an overview of the structural design and the catalytic performance of HMOFs and focuses on the relevance of the chemical reactions tested. It aims at combining the existing demand for heterogeneous asymmetric catalysts with the current knowledge on HMOFs. This is relevant for both industry and academia since it brings together both areas and highlights their common goal to prepare key chemicals using sustainable approaches. We hope that this work will motivate researchers to rationally design HMOFs with the goal to target relevant practical applications.