Confining Polyoxometalate Clusters into Porous Aromatic Framework Materials for Catalytic Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene

Removal of notorious sulfur compounds to produce low-sulfur-content (≤10 ppm) diesel is necessary and vital for modern industry and environmental protection. A new type of inorganic–organic hybrid material has been designed and synthesized via confining molybdenum-containing polyoxometalate (POM) clusters within porous aromatic framework-1 (PAF-1) cavities named POM–PAF-1. Deep oxidative desulfurization experiments reveal that POM–PAF-1 possesses excellent reactivity under mild conditions, exemplified by a sulfur removal degree of 98.5% dibenzothiophene within 30 min at 30 °C. The improvement in oxidative desulfurization reactivity from traditional porous POM-based catalysts is owing to uniform POMs and lipophilic and porous PAF-1. The high performance of POM–PAF-1 in terms of excellent reactivity and good stability means it has potential in new heterogeneous catalysis.