Aerobic
photo-oxidation of sulfide into sulfoxide in water is of great interest
in green chemistry. In this study, three highly stable Ir(III)–Zr(IV)
metal–organic frameworks (Ir–Zr MOFs), namely Zr6–Irbpy (bpy is 2,2′-bipyridine), Zr6–IrbpyOMe (bpyOMe is 4,4′-dimethoxy-2,2′-bipyridine),
and Zr6–Irphen (phen is 1,10-phenanthroline), are
constructed by using [Ir(pqc)2(L)2]Cl complexes
(where pqc is 2-phenylquinoline-4-carboxylic acid and L is an ancillary
ligand bpy, bpyOMe, or phen) as linkers and Zr6 cluster
as nodes. The constructed Ir–Zr MOFs present high catalytic
activity on aerobic photo-oxidation of sulfide into sulfoxide under
visible light irradiation in water at room temperature. Moreover,
the reaction is high chemoselectivity and functional group tolerance.
The catalyst can be readily recycled and reused at least 10 times
without loss of catalytic activity. Mechanism studies demonstrate
that superoxide radical is the reactive oxygen species in the sulfoxidation,
which is generated by electron transfer from the excited triplet photosensitizer 3[Ir–Zr-MOF]* to O2. The high activity of
photocatalytic sulfoxidation in water may be attributed to the stabilization
of the persulfoxide intermediate by hydrogen bond formation with water
solvent, which accelerates the conversion of persulfoxide into sulfoxide
and prevents further oxidation of sulfoxide into sulfone. This work
provides a new strategy for the green synthesis of sulfoxides under
ambient conditions.