3.3.1 Fluorescence Analysis
The activity of solid base catalysts for Knoevenagel condensation could be analyzed by fluorescence and RP-HPLC. Solvent polarity has important influence on the effects of the catalytic reactions. Herein, ethanol(a protic solvent, ε = 24.3) could be used in our experiments, which has been verified by our previous experiments.
Prof. Li has reported the catalytic performance of Fe3O4/IRMOF-3 via the Knoevenagel condensation reaction of benzaldehyde and ethyl cyanoacetate[13].
Here, UiO66-2Py-Arg, UiO66-3Py-Lys and UiO66-4Py-Gly nanoparticles were used as catalysts for the Knoevenagel condensation reactions.
The fluorescence emission spectra of 0.8mL benzaldehyde under different catalysts were shown in Fig. 3a. The fluorescence intensity of the condensation reactions without catalysts was the highest, which was in accordance with the principle. The fluorescence intensity of the products catalyzed by UiO66-3Py-Lys and UiO66-4Py-Gly was very low, indicating that UiO66-3Py-Lys and UiO66-4Py-Gly showed better catalytic activity than that of UiO66-2Py-Arg.
As shown in Fig. 3b, in the condensation reactions with UiO66-2Py-Arg as the catalysts, when 0.4 mL of benzaldehyde was added, the fluorescence intensity was the lowest, indicating that 0.4 mL of benzaldehyde showed the best catalysis effect when the gradient volumes were used.
In order to further explore which has the best catalytic effect with 0.4mL of benzaldehyde, as shown in Fig. 3c, the results showed that the catalytic effect of UiO66-4Py-Gly with 0.4mL of benzaldehyde was the best. Although UiO66-2Py-Arg showed a good catalytic effect with 0.4mL of benzaldehyde, under the same conditions, compared with the other two UiO66-3Py-Lys and UiO66-4Py-Gly catalysts, UiO66-2Py-Arg was still unsatisfactory.
As shown in Fig. 3d, with different gradient volumes of benzaldehyde, the results showed that the catalytic effect of UiO66-3Py-Lys was the best when the benzaldehyde solution with a gradient volume of 0.8 mL.
As shown in Fig. 3e, with different gradient volumes of benzaldehyde, when UiO66-4Py-Gly was used as a catalyst, the results showed that 0.8 mL of benzaldehyde showed the best catalytic effect.
The analysis showed that, compared with UiO66-2Py-Arg, UiO66-3Py-Lys and UiO66-4Py-Gly showed better catalytic activity, which might be related to the positions of the substituents. When there is a steric hindrance factor, samples with ortho-substituents have lower selectivity and catalytic activity than those with para- or meta-substituents.
At the same time, the catalytic effects of UiO66-3Py-Lys and UiO66-4Py-Gly at a volume of 0.8mL of benzaldehyde were equivalent and the most ideal. At a volume of 0.4mL of benzaldehyde, the catalytic activity of UiO66-4Py-Gly was better than that of UiO66-3Py-Lys.
3.3.2 RP-HPLC and 1HNMR Analysis
As shown in Fig. 4a, a control experiment, the retention time of diluted benzaldehyde was 1.668 min. In Fig. 4b, the retention time of the new product was 3.040min, and the area percentage was 54.033%. In Fig. 4c, the retention time of the new product was 3.034min, and the area percentage was 79.050%. Compared with UiO66-2Py-Arg and UiO66-3Py-Lys nanoparticles, in the presence of UiO66-4Py-Gly nanoparticles, the Knoevenagel condensation reaction presented much higher catalytic activity.
In Fig. 4d, the retention time of the reaction product was 3.028min. In Fig. 4e, the 1HNMR(400M Hz, CHCl3-d6) charomatogram of the reaction product showed that UiO66-4Py-Gly nanoparticles presented catalytic activity.
It is noteworthy that the performance of UiO66-4Py-Gly nanoparticles was better than that of UiO66-2Py-Arg and UiO66-3Py-Lys nanoparticles. Some literatures reported amino groups might play the major role in the Knoevenagel condensation reaction, while in our experiments, a steric hindrance factor might a quite important element[19–23].