NH(2)-MIL-125(Ti)-derived porous cages of titanium oxides to support Pt–Co alloys for chemoselective hydrogenation reactions

The change of atom density induced structural collapse in the transformation process from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to their inorganic counterparts is a major challenge to the achievement of porous hollow structures. Herein, we develop an amino acid-mediated strategy for transformation of NH(2)-MIL-125(Ti) to successfully synthesize well-defined porous cages of titanium oxides (PCT) due to sheets serving as structural scaffolds. On this basis, PCT supported Pt-based nanoparticles are generated via a similar synthetic route, and are utilized to study the selective hydrogenation of carbonyl groups in α,β-unsaturated aldehydes, benefiting from the specific structures of PCT and tunable electronic structures of Pt mainly affected by doping with metal species such as Co. In this case, Pt–Co/PCT composites give 96% selectivity for cinnamyl alcohol at 100% conversion of cinnamaldehyde under 0.2 MPa H(2) and 80 °C for 3 h. This research would offer a promising strategy for important organic transformations in academic and industrial research to selectively synthesize high-value-added products.