Fluorine-functionalized zirconium-organic cages for efficient photocatalytic oxidation of thioanisole

Zirconium-based metal-organic cages (Zr-MOCs) typically exhibit high stability, but their structural and application reports are scarce due to stringent crystallization conditions. We have successfully fluorinated the classical Zr-MOCs (ZrT-3) for the first time, obtaining the fluorinated MOCs (ZrT-3-F). Notably, ZrT-3-F not only inherits the high stability of its parent structure, but also acts as a catalyst for the effective oxidation of benzyl thioether for the first time. The reaction can reach a conversion rate of 99 % in 6 h, and the selectivity reaches 95 %, which far exceeds the non-fluorinated ZrT-3. This work proves that the specific functionalization of the classical Zr-MOCs can further expand their application potential, such as catalysis.