Ag Nanoparticles Embedded with an Al(III) MOF as Catalysts for the A³ Coupling Reaction and CO₂ Conversion into Oxazolidinones

Development of heterogeneous catalysts by anchoring highly dispersed Ag(0) nanoparticles (Ag NPs) into functional metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for synthesizing propargyl amine and oxazolidinones presents an appealing yet challenging strategy. To address this, we report the synthesis and characterization of a fluorine-rich, physicochemically robust, aquastable Al(III)-based metal–organic framework (MOF), called 1′. Here, we report, for the first time, successful CO2 fixation with propargylic amines under mild, solvent-free conditions. Beyond this, the 1′-Ag NPs catalyst also effectively promotes the solvent-free A3 coupling reaction to yield propargylic amines. Notably, the 1′-Ag NPs catalyst exhibits excellent recyclability, maintaining its catalytic activity and structural integrity over multiple reuse cycles for both types of catalytic transformations. A comprehensive catalytic evaluation was conducted by broadening the substrate scope for both CO2 fixation and A3 coupling reactions, which shows that this heterogeneous catalyst system has excellent performance in terms of yield and broad substrate scope compared to the reported literature. Furthermore, this 1′-Ag NPs catalyst works under atmospheric CO2 pressure for the catalytic conversion to oxazolidinones. This research highlights the potential of 1′-Ag NPs to contribute to environmental sustainability by enabling the conversion of CO2 into valuable chemical products and facilitating efficient multicomponent reactions under solvent-free conditions for the synthesis of pharmaceutically important starting materials.