Organic photochemistry is an excellent tool for the production of nanostructures of gold, silver, copper, cobalt, niobium, and other elements, Among photochemical precursors, ketones are good photosensitizers for nanoparticle synthesis because of the reducing free radicals they generate. Thus efficient nanoparticle generation requires a careful selection of substrates and experimental conditions such that free radical generation occurs with high quantum efficiency, and where metal ion precursors do not cause UV screening of the organic photosensitizers. One of the exciting applications of nanoparticles involves their use as catalysts, sometimes in their colloidal form, but frequently supported on a variety of structures, from inert ones, such as nanodiamonds, to semiconductors, such as TiO2. Supporting nanoparticles offers the advantage of easy separation and the potential for catalyst reuse. Modern microscopy techniques allow us to examine the catalytic process at a single particle level and one molecule at a time. This allows the differentiation of true heterogeneous catalysis from cases where homogeneous catalysis plays a role, even when the catalyst as-introduced is heterogeneous. While scaling down reactions from ‘the mole to the molecule’ offers a unique intimate understanding of reaction mechanisms, the real challenge is to transfer the molecule-level knowledge back to the real laboratory level thus taking advantage of the information to improve catalysis at the production level.

Award Address (James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Northeastern Section). From the mole to the molecule: Nanocatalysis, one molecule at a time

251st National Meeting (2016)

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