Nanoporous solids as receptacles and catalysts for unusual conversions of organic compounds

Solid-state chemical principles, allied to a degree of chemical intuition, enables one to design open-structure solids on to the inner surfaces of which isolated catalytically active sites of different kinds may be placed. With such solids, which act simultaneously both as permeable catalysts and reaction vessels, a number of highly desirable chemical conversions—many of paramount importance in the context of “green” chemistry and clean technology—may be smoothly effected under environmentally benign conditions. Typical examples, illustrated here, include the selective oxidation of toluene to benzaldehyde, current methods of producing alcohols, aldehydes and acids, and the synthesis of ɛ-caprolactam in a by-product-free manner. Such open-structure solids, which house single-site active centres, are also readily amenable to detailed and precise structural elucidation.

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