Salen(Co(iii)) imprisoned within pores of a metal-organic framework by post-synthetic modification and its asymmetric catalysis for CO2 fixation at room temperature.

Herein, a new preparation strategy of chiral metal-organic frameworks (CMOFs) has been demonstrated. By adsorption and then post-synthetically modified (PSM) procedures, chiral salen(Co(iii)) could be imprisoned within the cages of an MOF and remained in its free form. This is the first report on the successful application of CMOFs in heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis for coupling CO2 with epoxides to obtain optically active cyclic carbonates at room temperature.