The Role of Nanocrystal Facets in Sustainable Organic Synthesis.

Das, Soumyadip; Chanda, Kaushik

The effective synthesis of noble‐metal nanocrystals with controllable shapes opens up several possibilities for manipulating their physicochemical characteristics as well as improving their figures of merit in a number of applications. The availability of this new class of nanomaterials has helped heterogeneous catalysis and surface research in particular, as the atomic structure shown on the surface of a nanocrystal is ultimately governed by its geometric form. The immediate benefits might include a considerable increase in catalytic activity or selectivity, as well as a significant decrease in material costs, all while offering a well‐defined model system for mechanistic investigation. This review paper presents a complete overview of recent developments in the synthesis of noble‐metal nanocrystals with well‐tuned morphologies, as well as their outstanding performance in a wide range of catalytic activities in organic synthesis. Nanocrystals having different shapes such as cubic, cuboctahedra, octahedra, rhombic dodecahedra, etc. exhibited a major role in facet‐dependent catalytic activity in the organic synthesis. Synthesis of organic molecules such as heterocyclic molecule synthesis, coupling reaction (C−C coupling), hydrogenation reaction, oxidation, and peptide synthesis are highly affected by nanocrystals with a particular surface facet. We expect that this review article will provide the motivation and a pathway for the development of next‐generation catalysts, which are critical in a variety of applications for organic synthesis.

COUPLING reactions (Chemistry); ORGANIC synthesis; PEPTIDE synthesis; HETEROGENEOUS catalysis; CATALYTIC activity; GEOMETRIC shapes

ChemNanoMat, 2022, Vol 8, Issue 11, p1

2199-692X

Academic Journal

10.1002/cnma.202200375