Superfluid Helium Nanoreactor Takes Single Atom Catalysis Understanding To The Next Level
24/08/2020 Chemists have isolated a gold atom in a super-cooled liquid helium nanoreactor to create a single atom catalyst that avoids surface interactions. The gold is held in a van der Waals complex with the reactant, in this case a diol molecule. Using a combination of mass spectrometry and theoretical calculations, the team has unpicked how gold catalyses a reaction that splits the diol in two.Single atom catalysts are usually bound to a surface. In this case, van der Waals forces loosely hold the gold atom to the diol molecule, leaving it free from any unwanted surface interactions. ‘From a quantum chemical point of view, the involvement of a surface can significantly complicate mechanistic studies. The surface effect is hard to predict because it is environment-dependent,’ says Shengfu Yang from the University of Leicester, UK, who led the work with Jinlong Yang from the University of Science and Technology of China.
![Source: © Shengfu Yang/University of LeicesterVan der Waals forces loosely hold the gold atom to the diol molecule](https://www.qd-latam.com/_libs/imgs/final/1110.jpg)
On taking a theoretical look at the system, Yang says ‘we found that all of the carbon–carbon bonds in diol–gold complex cations are significantly strengthened and both carbon–oxygen bonds are weakened. As a result, cleavage of carbon–oxygen bonds became preferential, leading to the formation of C2H4+.’ Experimentally, highly selective formation of the C2H4+ ion in a mass spectrometer confirmed the mechanism.
Yang ends, ‘I hope that this can lead to a general understanding of catalysis at the molecular level, and ultimately, we can develop high-performance catalysts by design rather than cooking.’
Source: https://bit.ly/3aRc1St, via Chemistry World