A Doubly Interpenetrated Cu(II)-based Metal-Organic Framework as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the ipso-Hydroxylation of Arylboronic Acids

A doubly interpenetrated Cu(II)-organic framework with formula [{Cu-2(L)(2)(4,4 '-bpdc)(2)(H2O)(2)} . 8H(2)O . CH3OH](alpha) (1) (where, L=N-2, N-6-di(pyridin-4-yl)naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxamide and 4,4 '-bpdc=[1,1 '-biphenyl]-4,4 '-dicarboxylate ion) has been synthesized and characterized with the help of several spectroscopic and analytical techniques including single crystal X-ray analysis. A single crystal X-ray analysis reveals that 1 exhibit interpenetrated two-dimensional sheet-like structure containing elongated channels of cross-section 11.09x31.22 angstrom(2) along the a-axis. Finally, 1 has been exploited as a heterogeneous catalyst for the ipso-hydroxylation of arylboronic acids yielding up to 99 % of the respective phenolic product. Importantly, the catalyst can be reused for five successive cycles without having a significant loss in its catalytic efficiency.