A Series of Metal–Organic Frameworks for Selective CO₂ Capture and Catalytic Oxidative Carboxylation of Olefins

Three novel lanthanide metal˗organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs), namely MOF-590, -591, and -592 were constructed from a naphthalene diimide tetracarboxylic acid. Gas adsorption measurements of MOF-591 and -592 revealed good adsorption of CO2 (low pressure, at room temperature) and moderate CO2 selectivity over N2 and CH4. Accordingly, breakthrough measurements were performed on a representative MOF-592, in which the separation of CO2 from binary mixture containing N2 and CO2 was demonstrated without any loss in performance over three consecutive cycles. Moreover, MOF-590, MOF-591, and MOF-592 exhibited catalytic activity in the one-pot synthesis of styrene carbonate from styrene and CO2 under mild conditions (1 atm CO2, 80 °C, and solvent-free). Among the new materials, MOF-590 revealed a remarkable efficiency with exceptional conversion (96%), selectivity (95%), and yield (91%).