Mechanochemical reactions are induced by the direct absorption of mechanical energy, often by grinding or ball milling, and usually with no, or greatly reduced, use of solvents. The correspondingly high concentrations of reagents, coupled with the existence of a single phase for both reactants and products, can cause the outcomes of solid-state reactions to differ dramatically from their solution-based counterparts. These differences include a preference for kinetic products, which can display compositions at odds with the stoichiometry of the starting reagents; the initiation of redox reactions not observed in solution; and the generation of complexes with low-coordinate metal centers. The implications of these effects for catalytic chemistry are varied. Low coordinate metal centers do not guarantee high catalytic reactivity, for example, but heterometallic species only available through mechanochemical synthesis may initiate more controlled polymerization than do monometallic counterparts. The potential for organometallic mechanochemical synthesis to provide new families of catalysts, especially those involving main-group elements, will be discussed.

Mechanochemical mélange: Milling and its consequences for catalyst generation

2019 Spring National Meeting

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