Cu(I)‐Glutathione Assembly Supported on ZIF‐8 As Robust and Efficient Catalyst for Mild CO2 Conversions

The Cu‐glutathione (GSH) redox system, essential in biology, is designed here as a supramacromolecular assembly in which the tetrahedral 18e Cu(I) center loses a thiol ligand upon adsorption onto ZIF‐8, as shown by EXAFS and DFT calculation, to generate a very robust 16e planar trigonal single‐atom Cu(I) catalyst. Synergy between Cu(I) and ZIF‐8, revealed by catalytic experiments and DFT, affords CO2 conversion into high‐value‐added chemicals with a wide scope of substrates by reaction with terminal alkynes or propargyl amines in excellent yields under mild conditions and reuse at least 10 times without significant decrease in catalytic efficiency.