Yashi Mittal, Paltan Laha, Shyam Biswas
Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), formerly recognized only for its harmful impact on the environment, is now being re-examined as an abundant, economical, and renewable C 1 resource for sustainable chemical synthesis. Through catalytic CO 2 fixation, this abundant greenhouse gas can be efficiently transformed into a range of high-value products, including cyclic carbonates, carbamates, and other heterocycles. In this endeavor, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as an effective heterogeneous catalyst due to their robust and tunable porosity architectures. However, due to cost-effectiveness, there is a limit to their use in this direction. To address this, we herein designed and synthesized a cost-effective aluminum (Al)-based MOF using water as a green solvent. This synthesized Al(III)-MOF ( 1′ ) demonstrated excellent catalytic performance in the cycloaddition of CO 2 with styrene oxide, yielding cyclic carbonates. To further enhance catalytic activity and broaden the substrate scope, copper(II), another cost-effective and non-noble metal ion, was grafted onto the Al(III)-MOF. This newly developed Cu(II)-embedded Al(III)-MOF [ Cu(II)@1′ ] exhibited excellent CO 2 fixation activity toward propargylic amines, forming the pharmacologically important moieties namely, 2-oxazolidinones, under ambient conditions. Thus, this work highlights the potential of the Al(III)-MOF and its Cu(II)-embedded composite as a green and sustainable approach for converting CO 2 into a pharmacologically important moiety under mild conditions, with excellent recyclability and broad substrate compatibility.