A Review on Catalytic Applications of Metal-Organic Frameworks

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous crystalline materials that they constructed by the building units include metal ion/cluster and organic bridging ligands using strong chemical bonds to create open crystalline network with fixed porosity [1, 2]. These porous materials with high surface area and large structural variety lead to a wide range of applications including separations, gas capture and storage, ion-exchange, drug delivery, sensing and catalysis. In recent years the application of MOFs as catalyst in organic reactions such as tandem reactions has attracted more attention due to their adjustable open metal center, functional organic linker, and active guest species in their pores (Fig. 1). In this review paper, the catalytic applications of MOFs with multiple active sites in organic catalysis, photocatalysis and tandem reactions are discussed.