%0 Journal Article
%T Identification of the strong Br£¿nsted acid site in a metal¨Corganic framework solid acid catalyst
%J -
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-018-0171-z
%X It remains difficult to understand the surface of solid acid catalysts at the molecular level, despite their importance for industrial catalytic applications. A sulfated zirconium-based metal¨Corganic framework, MOF-808-SO4, was previously shown to be a strong solid Br£¿nsted acid material. In this report, we probe the origin of its acidity through an array of spectroscopic, crystallographic and computational characterization techniques. The strongest Br£¿nsted acid site is shown to consist of a specific arrangement of adsorbed water and sulfate moieties on the zirconium clusters. When a water molecule adsorbs to one zirconium atom, it participates in a hydrogen bond with a sulfate moiety that is chelated to a neighbouring zirconium atom; this motif, in turn, results in the presence of a strongly acidic proton. On dehydration, the material loses its acidity. The hydrated sulfated MOF exhibits a good catalytic performance for the dimerization of isobutene (2-methyl-1-propene), and achieves a 100% selectivity for C8 products with a good conversion efficiency
%U https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-018-0171-z