A composite material has been successfully synthesized using an amino-containing metal–organic framework (NH
2-MOF) and
phosphotungstic acid (PTA). This composite was characterized using X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission
electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements, Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence. Characterization results confirmed the immobilization and good distribution of PTA in the NH
2-MOF. The PTA/NH
2-MOF was subsequently applied in the oxidative
desulfurization of
dibenzothiophene (DBT) with H
2O
2 as the oxidant in
n-octane under atmospheric conditions. Under optimal reaction conditions, the oxidative
desulfurization conversion of DBT reached 100%, and there was no significant decrease of the
catalytic activity after four recycles. Kinetic experiments were also performed for the reaction at various temperatures, which indicated that oxidative reaction rates followed pseudo first-order kinetics, and the apparent activation energy for the
desulfurization reaction was 34.1 kJ mol
−1. The results indicated that this material exhibited excellent catalytic performance for oxidative
desulfurization of DBT. Copyright