The performance applications(e.g.,photocatalysis)of zirconium(Zr)and hafnium(Hf)based complexes are greatly hindered by the limited development of their structures and the relatively inert metal reactivity.In this work,we constructed two ultrastable Zr/Hf-based clusters(Zr_(9)-TC4A and Hf_(9)-TC4A)using hydrophobic 4-tert-butylthiacalix[4]arene(H4TC4A)ligands,in which unsaturated coordinated sulfur(S)atoms on the TC4A^(4-)ligand can generate strong metal–ligand synergy with nearby active metal Zr/Hf sites.As a result,these two functionalized H4TC4A ligands modified Zr/Hf-oxo clusters,as catalysts for the amine oxidation reaction,exhibited excellent catalytic activity,achieving very high substrate conversion(>99%)and product selectivity(>90%).Combining comparative experiments and theoretical calculations,we found that these Zr/Hf-based cluster catalysts accomplish efficient amine oxidation reactions through synergistic effect between metals and ligands:(i)The photocatalytic benzylamine(BA)oxidation reaction was achieved by the synergistic effect of the dual active sites,in which,the naked S sites on the TC4A^(4-)ligand oxidize the BA by photogenerated hole and oxygen molecules are reduced by photogenerated electrons on the metal active sites;(ii)in the aniline oxidation reaction,aniline was adsorbed by the bare S sites on ligands to be closer to metal active sites and then oxidized by the oxygen-containing radicals activated by the metal sites,thus completing the catalytic reaction under the synergistic catalytic effect of the proximity metal–ligand.In this work,the Zr/Hf-based complexes applied in the oxidation of organic amines have been realized using active S atom-directed metal–ligand synergistic catalysis and have demonstrated very high reactivity.
