Organic Frameworks Based on 1,2,4,5-Benzenetetracarboxylic
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DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATIONS OF LANTHANIDE METAL- ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS BASED ON 1,2,4,5-BENZENETETRACARBOXYLIC ACID by Joseph William Dixon III A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL December 2015 Copyright 2015 by Joseph William Dixon III ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I acknowledge the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry accepting me into this program, giving me the opportunity to work with some of the best faculty, professors and researchers around, whom I learned a great deal from. Evelyn Hall and Helena Szczesny are especially thanked for their kindness, helpfulness and overall general support provided to me throughout the past few years. Above all, I express sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Daniel Thomas de Lill for his exceptional patience, motivation and guidance in both my classroom studies and research studies. I’ve learned and acquired so much information/knowledge from him that will without a doubt be helpful to me in my academic endeavors as well as everyday life. In addition, I thank the other two members of my thesis committee, Dr. Deguo Du and Dr. Patricia Snyder for their insightful comments, suggestions and support of my thesis studies. Last but certainly not least, I thank my family and close friends for their love, support and encouragement throughout writing this thesis. Everyone acknowledged helped my dreams become a reality and I am forever grateful. iv ABSTRACT Author: Joseph William Dixon III Title: Design, Synthesis and Applications of Lanthanide Metal-Organic Frameworks based on 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. Daniel T. de Lill Degree: Master of Science Year: 2015 The organic linker 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (BTC) has been widely used in the construction of lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) due the high symmetry and versatile nature of its structure. Under identical hydrothermal reaction conditions, it was discovered that lanthanide BTC MOFs will form one of four unique structures based on its location in the series (La-Sm, Eu-Tb, Dy-Tm, Yb-Lu). This is uncommon in LOF materials, as in many cases the same compound can be produced for all of the lanthanides or two different structures may be observed for the first and second half of the series. Descriptions and comparisons of these structures as discussed herein, noticeably the decrease in coordination number and the lanthanide-oxygen bond lengths as the lanthanide atomic number increases. This thesis also attempts to use these compounds to catalyze a model mixed-aldol reaction. Two closely related BTC compounds from yttrium and uranium are also presented. The structure of the yttrium BTC MOFs was identical to that of the Eu, Gd and Tb compounds. v DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated first and foremost to my God and savior Jesus Christ. I also dedicate my thesis work to my close family and friends, especially my brothers and sisters Nicee, Howard, Burt, Miki, Talicia, Aaliyah, Jay and Paul. It was their faith in me and encouragement to preserve in my moments of fear and doubt that I was able to achieve all that I have. Lastly, I dedicate this work to my guardian angel in heaven, my mother Cornelia Tolefree. She was a major reason why I decided to embark on this educational journey and I know she would have been very proud of my accomplishments. Rest in paradise Mom. I love and miss you dearly. DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATIONS OF LANTHANIDE METAL- ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS BASED ON 1,2,4,5-BENZENETETRACARBOXYLIC ACID LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. x LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi LIST OF SCHEMES......................................................................................................... xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... xiii THE FASCINATING WORLD OF THE LANTHANIDES ..................... 14 1.1 A Brief History ........................................................................................................ 14 1.2 Lanthanide Chemistry ............................................................................................. 15 1.2.1 Physical Properties of Lanthanides ................................................................... 15 1.2.2 Lanthanide Coordination Chemistry ................................................................ 16 1.3 Metal-Organic Frameworks and Coordination Polymers ....................................... 17 1.3.1 Lanthanide-based Metal-Organic Frameworks ................................................ 18 APPLICATIONS OF LANTHANIDE MOFS AND CPS ......................... 21 2.1 Overview of Applications ....................................................................................... 21 2.2 Catalysis .................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.1 Catalytic Porous Lanthanide-based Materials .................................................. 23 Experimental Methods ................................................................................ 26 vii 3.1 Hydrothermal Synthesis .......................................................................................... 26 3.2 Characterization ...................................................................................................... 27 3.2.1 Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction ...................................................................... 27 3.2.2 Powder X-ray Diffraction ................................................................................. 28 3.2.3 Thermogravimetric Analysis ............................................................................ 29 LANTHANIDE BTC MOFS ...................................................................... 31 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 31 4.2 Experimental Section .............................................................................................. 32 4.2.1 Hydrothermal Synthesis of Compounds 1-4 .................................................... 32 4.2.2 Thermogravimetric Analysis ............................................................................ 32 4.2.3 Powder X-ray Diffraction ................................................................................. 33 4.3 Lanthanide BTC MOF Structural Descriptions ...................................................... 36 4.3.1 Compound 1 (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm) ................................................................... 36 4.3.2 Compound 2 (Eu, Gd, Tb) ................................................................................ 38 4.3.3 Compound 3 (Dy, Ho, Er, Tm) ......................................................................... 40 4.3.4 Compound 4 (Yb, Lu) ...................................................................................... 42 4.4 Structural Analysis .................................................................................................. 44 4.5 Catalysis .................................................................................................................. 46 OTHER CLOSELY RELATED BTC COMPOUNDS .............................. 48 5.1 Rare-Earth BTC MOFs ........................................................................................... 48 viii 5.2 Experimental Section .............................................................................................. 48 5.2.1 Synthesis of Compound 5 ................................................................................. 48 5.2.2 Synthesis of Compound 6 ................................................................................. 49 5.2.3 Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction ...................................................................... 49 5.2.4 Structural Description ....................................................................................... 53 SUMMARY/CONCLUSIONS ................................................................... 56 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 57 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Electronic Confguration, Oxidation States and Physical Data of the Lanthanides ...................................................................................................... 16 Table 4.1: Comparisons of Compound 1-4. ...................................................................... 45 Table 5.1: Crystallographic Data for Compounds 5 and 6. .............................................. 50 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: General MOF Example .................................................................................. 18 Figure 1.2: Examples of Secondary building units present in MOFs and CPs ................. 19 Figure 4.1: 1,2,4,5–benzenetetracarboxylic acid. ............................................................. 31 Figure 4.2: Compound 1 ................................................................................................... 36 Figure 4.3: TGA of Compound 1. ..................................................................................... 37 Figure 4.4: Compound 2