Improving the Efficiency of Mustard Gas Simulant Detoxification by Tuning the Singlet Oxygen Quantum Yield in Metal–Organic Frameworks and Their Corresponding Thin Films

The photocatalytically driven partial oxidation of a mustard gas simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES), was studied using the perylene-based metal-organic framework (MOF) UMCM-313 and compared to the activities of the Zr-based MOFs: PCN-222/MOF-545 and NU-1000. The rates of CEES oxidation positively correlated with the singlet oxygen quantum yield of the MOF linkers, porphyrin (PCN-222/MOF-545) < pyrene (NU-1000) < perylene (UMCM-313). Subsequently, thin films of UMCM-313 and NU-1000 were solvothermally grown on a conductive glass substrate to minimize catalyst loading and prevent light scattering by suspended MOF particles. Using a conductive glass support, the initial turnover frequencies of the MOFs in the photocatalytic reaction improved by 10-fold.