A Reusable MOF-Supported Single-Site Zinc(II) Catalyst for Efficient Intramolecular Hydroamination of o-Alkynylanilines.

The exploitation of new and active earth-abundant metal catalysts is critical for sustainable chemical production. Herein, we demonstrate the design of highly efficient, robust, and reusable ZnII -bipyridine-based metal-organic framework (MOF) catalysts for the intramolecular hydroamination of o-alkynylanilines to indoles. Under similar conditions homogeneous catalytic systems mainly provide hydrolysate. Our results prove that MOFs support unique internal environments that can affect the direction of chemical reactions. The ZnII -catalyzed hydroamination reaction can be conducted without additional ligands, base, or acid, and is thus a very clean reaction system with regard to its environmental impact.