Accurate binding of porous aluminum molecular ring catalysts with the substrate

Metal molecular rings are a class of compounds with aesthetically pleasing symmetry and fundamentally useful properties. The reported work generally focuses on the ring center cavity, and there is little known about those on the ring waist. Herein, we report the discovery of porous aluminum molecular rings and their performance and contribution to the cyanosilylation reaction. We develop a facile ligand induced aggregation and solvent regulation strategy towards AlOC-58NC and AlOC-59NT with high purity, high yield (75% and 70%, respectively) and gram-level scale-up. These molecular rings exhibit a “two-tier” pore feature involving the general central cavity and newly observed equatorial semi-open cavities. AlOC-59NT with two types of one-dimensional channels showed good catalytic activity. The interaction of the aluminum molecular ring catalyst with the substrate has been crystallographically characterized and theoretically confirmed, showing a ring adaptability process that involves the capture and binding of the substrate. This work provides new ideas for the assembly of porous metal molecular rings and to understand the overall reaction pathway involving aldehydes and is expected to inspire the design of low-cost catalysts through structural modifications.