Highly-stable Silverton-type U^IV-containing polyoxomolybdate frameworks for the heterogeneous catalytic synthesis of quinazolinones

Heteroatoms are very important in polyoxometalates (POMs) because they can lead to appealing architectures and unexpected properties in the final POMs. In this work, we elaborately designed and isolated three Silverton-type POMs ([(UMo12O42)-Mo-IV](8-)) with U-IV as the heteroatom and linked by Fe-II (FeUMo), Co-II (CoUMo) and Ni-II (NiUMo). These Silverton-type U-containing polyoxomolybdates were demonstrated to be the first molecular catalysts for the synthesis of quinazolinone drug precursor skeletons. Under the optimized reaction conditions, 27 quinazolinones could be obtained in high yield with water as the sole by-product under mild conditions. Furthermore, NiUMo can be recycled seven times and still keep high stability and catalytic activity.