Amino-Modified Fe-Terephthalate Metal-Organic Framework as an Efficient Catalyst for the Selective Oxidation of HS.

Classical amino-functionalized Fe-terephthalate metal-organic framework NH-MIL-53(Fe) and its parent framework MIL-53(Fe) were prepared via simple hydrothermal methods. The catalytic performaces of these two Fe-MOFs were explored for the selective oxidation of HS. The physicochemical properties of the fresh and used Fe-MOFs catalysts were investigated by XRD, BET, SEM, FT-IR, CO-TPD, and XPS techniques. It was found that the introduction of amino groups reduces the activation energies for HS oxidation and endows this catalyst surface with moderate basic sites. As a result, the NH-MIL-53(Fe) catalyst displays high HS conversion and near 100% S selectivity in the temperature range of 130-160 °C, outperforming commercial FeO and activated carbon. Moreover, a plausible reaction route for HS selective oxidation over NH-MIL-53(Fe) is proposed. This work opens up the possibility of utilizing MOFs as efficient catalyst for desulfuration reactions.