We
report a facile synthesis of a thiolate-protected water-soluble ultrasmall
cubic copper nanocluster-based metal–organic framework (CuMOF)
as an efficient and chemoselective catalyst for the azide–alkyne
click reaction. Interestingly, the diffuse reflectance spectra of
CuMOFs exhibit three discrete plasmon bands at 463, 505, and 674 nm,
which are similar to those corresponding to the fingerprint region
of thiolate-protected atomically precise Au25 nanoclusters;
hence, CuMOFs are termed as gold-like ultrasmall cubic copper nanoclusters.
The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and powder
X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm the cubic morphology of CuMOFs
with nanoclusters showing particle size distribution of ∼2–12
nm. The matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) spectrum
of CuMOFs is attributed to the individual particles consisting of
few Cu
n
(SR)
m
with Cu(0) core atoms and Cu(I)SR staples, i.e., Cu2(SR)4, Cu(SR)6, Cu3(SR)7, and
Cu4(SR)8. To our surprise, the unsymmetric bistriazoles
resulting from the click reaction of bifunctional azides and alkynes
in the presence of CuMOFs were achieved by step-by-step conversion
of the terminal azide selectively with maximum yield in the range
of 70–88%. The nitrogen adsorption–desorption studies
confirm the size-dependent surface area, pore volume, and pore size
for the CuMOFs prepared by varying metal-to-ligand ratios. The plausible
mechanism for the selective mono-click at CuMOFs suggests the existence
of bifunctional terminal interactions via thiol and sulfonate groups
that might have provided the site-isolation-based active sites for
selective catalysis. The easy recovery of CuMOFs and their reusability
up to 5 times without significant loss of activity are very promising
for the selective organic conversions in pharmaceutical and industrial
formulations.