A visible light-driven photocatalyst of a stable metal-organic framework based on Cu4Cl clusters and TIPE spacers.

A 3D new metal-organic framework (MOF) [Cu4Cl(TIPE)3]·3Cl (1) has been synthesized and characterized. Compound 1 exhibits good chemical stability in aqueous solution with the pH ranging from 1 to 11. Interestingly, compound 1 shows high catalytic activities for the degradation of dyes (RhB, MB and MO) under LED and natural light irradiation. The Ea of 1 for RhB, MB and MO degradation is obtained to be 79.71, 66.14 and 87.26 kJ mol(-1), respectively. Furthermore, compound 1 can be reused in the catalytic process without the catalytic activity obviously decreasing.