Interfacial Coordination Chemistry for Catalysts Design

Dear Colleagues,

Moving chemistry toward greener processes requires cleaner (atom economy, selectivity), lower energy consuming (lower temperature), higher productivity, and less toxic solvent (ideally water or no solvents) reaction conditions. Catalysis and especially heterogeneous catalysis is the tool for tackling this challenge, where all molecular transformations occur at the fluid–solid interface.

The catalytic sites designed to facilitate the transformation of the reactant into the desired product are localized at this interface and are hybrid by nature. Their coordination should be open or labile to accommodate molecules diffusing in and out the catalyst porosity (reactants and products) as all catalytic sites. Of course, the molecules (ligands for metals) designed to be permanently retained are tailoring their catalytic properties per se. Among these two types, those dedicated to their retention at the interface are key features of interfacial chemistry, defining the type of interfacial species (ion exchanged, grafted, anchored, embedded…) differing from their localization (accessibility, confinement) and mobility (type of attachment).

Therefore, moving to coordination chemistry at the interface implies taking into account the role of the support on the catalytic site characteristics, recognizing the different types of possible interactions from van de Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, electrostatic or covalent interactions. Not surprisingly, it is a central aspect of the design of heterogeneous catalytic sites and their close environment at the molecular level.

This field includes the design of a single site that comprises isolated atoms or ions and also those with a defined nuclearity. The catalytic site could be a purely organic or organometallic as well as one bioinspired by metalloenzymes. The method of incorporation can be mere impregnation, ionic exchange, atomic layer deposition (ALD), or others. The support, usually classical silica, alumina, and titania oxides, could be any other oxides or modified oxides and, eventually, non-oxide supports. The overall definition of site coordination should apply ad hoc physical technique, and characterization in correlation with reactivity will be appreciated.

Prof. Dr. Bonneviot Laurent
Guest Editor

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• solid-fluid interfaces at the molecular level
• internal and/or external surface functionalization
• molecular surface engineering
• theoretical and model surfaces
• application to heterogeneous catalysis
• organic, organometallic or bioinspired-coordination supported catalytic sites