The advocates of sustainable development believe that the needs of the present cannot be met at the expense of further generations: that is, such chemical processes are needed that protect the environment and provide the expected yields. The current development of new synthetic methodologies shows a trend towards performing transformation in environmentally benign conditions, at low temperature leaving behind the harmful solvents. Recently, there has been an increasing effort to develop and conduct more chemical reactions in aqueous medium, although these methodologies also have some drawbacks: the limited temperature range implies the use of higher pressures, the solubility of some specific reactants is limited in water and many selective transition metal catalysts are moisture sensitive. Generally, nanoformulation technology allows us to overcome this problem. Using a bottom-up, nanoprecipitation-based platform, polymer protected catalyst nanoparticles or encapsulated reactants can be prepared with greatly increased apparent solubility in water, where the protecting matrix plays a role not only in solubility but also in increasing reactivity.<sup>1</sup><br/>Dibenzoyl peroxide is well-known in the industry, as an initiator and catalyst for polyester thermoset resins, as bleaching agent or as a medication in acne treatment. It is even used as a mild, selective oxidant by organic chemists, though it’s insolubility in water makes it impossible to use in green chemistry.<br/>In our presentation, we shall describe in detail the preparation of polymer-capped dibenzoyl peroxide nanoparticles with high AI content and their enhanced reactivity in selected oxidation reactions. Such as, the selective formation of sulfoxides can be achieved in water using the nanoparticles developing conversion rates up to 94% which is unprecedented utilizing traditional synthetic methodologies. Additionally, as an extended application of dibenzoyl peroxide nanoparticles, a feasibility study for its application in the cosmetics industry.

Novel nanoprecipitation-based formulation technology to enhance catalytic activity of known catalysts in aqueous media

2019 Fall National Meeting

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