Transitional MOFs: Exposing Metal Sites with Porosity for Enhancing Catalytic Reaction Performance

The exploration of transitional metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is important because of their unique properties and promising applications. Hence, finding a suitable strategy to design transitional MOFs with different states has become a key issue. Herein, we develop a modulator-induced strategy for fabricating transitional MOFs with carboxylic ligands by building esterification reaction. The exposed metal sites, mesoporous systems, morphologies, crystallinities, and components of transitional MOFs can be finely controlled when different modulators are employed. Notably, the Pt/solid-transitional MOF catalyst with more mesopores enhances conversion in the hydrogenation reaction of n-hexene, and the flower-like-transitional MOF catalyst with more Lewis acid sites exhibits better performance in the cycloaddition reaction. Therefore, the modulator-induced strategy may provide significant inspiration for preparing various transitional MOFs by building suitable chemical reactions.