• MOF synthesis
• PET upcycling
• terephthalate
• UiO-66
• water-based

In the present work of master thesis, a water-based method for the synthesis of UiO-66 was successfully realized from commercial diester, deriving from chemical depolymerization of PET. The developed process uses mild reaction conditions and does not involve toxic or expensive substances neither in the synthesis nor in the work-up phase. The synthesis reaction was optimized with multivariate analysis (DoE), that has allowed to identify optimal reaction conditions, in terms of amount of acetic acid, hydrochloride acid and time, to maximize MOF’s yield and crystallinity. The developed process turned out to be very flexible, adapting to two different diesters (DMT and BHET), different inorganic acid (HCl and H2SO4) and allowed to obtain both hcp and fcu phases depending on the adopted reaction conditions. Furthermore, an effective toxic solvents-free work-up protocol was ideated, making the overall process sustainable from both economic, environmental and social standpoint. The process proved to be promising also on a 50 times higher scale, giving a high crystalline and purity product, with comparable properties to the sample synthetized traditionally in DMF. The obtained products displayed a high surface area and a good thermal stability, which makes these materials suited for gas storage or catalysis.