Abstract
Herein, a highly N-rich covalent triazine framework (CTF) is applied as support for a Ru(III) complex. The bipyridine sites within the CTF provide excellent anchoring points for the [Ru(acac)(2)(CH(3)CN)(2)]PF(6) complex. The obtained robust Ru(III)@bipy-CTF material was applied for the selective tandem aerobic oxidation-Knoevenagel condensation reaction. The presented system shows a high catalytic performance (>80% conversion of alcohols to α, β-unsaturated nitriles) without the use of expensive noble metals. The bipy-CTF not only acts as the catalyst support but also provides the active sites for both aerobic oxidation and Knoevenagel condensation reactions. This work highlights a new perspective for the development of highly efficient and robust heterogeneous catalysts applying CTFs for cascade catalysis.