Pyrene- and Benzothiadiazole-Based Mixed-Ligand D–A Metal–Organic Framework for the Enhancing Photocatalytic Aerobic Oxidation of Organic Sulfides

Assembling donor–acceptor (D–A) systems has become an emerging strategy to develop prominent heterogeneous photocatalysts in organic transformation. Herein, by linker modification, a UiO-67-type mixed-ligand metal–organic framework (termed UiO-67-PE/BT) was fabricated with pyrene as the electron donor and benzothiadiazole as the electron acceptor. Benefiting from the ultrastability of UiO-type materials and the outstanding photoactivity of the D–A system, UiO-67-PE/BT can efficiently photocatalyze the selective oxidation of organic sulfides into sulfoxides under visible-light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of UiO-67-PE/BT was attributed to the D–A interaction in UiO-67-PE/BT that improves the synergetic effect of photoinduced electron transfer and energy transfer processes to generate abundant reactive oxygen species (superoxide radical and single oxygen). This work provided a feasible platform for the development of the D–A system to improve the transformation of solar energy into chemical energy.