Permanent porous hydrogen-bonded frameworks with two types of Brønsted acid sites for heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis

The search for porous materials with strong Brønsted acid sites for challenging reactions has long been of significant interest, but it remains a formidable synthetic challenge. Here we demonstrate a cage extension strategy to construct chiral permanent porous hydrogen-bonded frameworks with strong Brønsted acid groups for heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis. We report the synthesis of two octahedral coordination cages using enantiopure 4,4’,6,6’-tetra(benzoate) ligand of 1,1’-spirobiindane-7,7’-phosphoric acid and Ni4/Co4-p-tert-butylsulfonylcalix[4]arene clusters. Intercage hydrogen-bonds and hydrophobic interactions between tert-butyl groups direct the hierarchical assembly of the cages into a permanent porous material. The chiral phosphoric acid-containing frameworks can be high efficient and recyclable heterogeneous Brønsted acid catalysts for asymmetric [3+2] coupling of indoles with quinone monoimine and Friedel-Crafts alkylations of indole with aryl aldimines. The afforded enantioselectivities (up to 99.9% ee) surpass those of the homogeneous counterparts and compare favorably with those of the most enantioselective homogeneous phosphoric acid catalysts reported to date.