Recent Advances in Mechanochemical Organic Synthesis

Abstract

In this review, the recent advances in mechanochemical organic synthesis are presented. These include variety of chemical reactions, organic functional group transformations, organic catalytic processes, and photochemical reactions which were not carried in mechanochemical conditions before.

Tribochemistry, Mechanical Alloying, Mechanochemistry: What is in a Name?

“…A single symbol cannot be therefore sufficient to define a general regime of mechanical treatment. Moreover, the presentation of milling balls is not relevant for example in many organic syntheses wherein excellent and scalable results were obtained not by impact in ball mills, but by shear in mortars, extruders, or rollers ( Crawford and Casaban, 2016 ; Andersen and Mack, 2018b ; Stolar et al, 2019 ; Ali El-Remaily et al, 2020 ; Crawford et al, 2020 ; Margetić and Štrukil, 2020 ). In fact, a vast majority of efficient and scalable mechanochemical types of treatment are “ball free” (ultrasonic, RAM, TSE, jet milling, pin milling, rolling-milling, grinding in a mortar, to name just a few).…”

Changing the Game of Time Resolved X-Ray Diffraction on the Mechanochemistry Playground by Downsizing

“…[11][12][13][14] It is increasingly clear that many traditional solution based chemical reactions can be performed in the presence of very little or no solvent using mechanochemical approaches. 15 Providing "greener" and potentially less expensive strategies than traditional solution methods, 1,[16][17][18] mechanochemistry was dubbed by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) as one of the 10 chemical innovations that will change our world. 19 Despite decades of research, the fundamental principles which drive mechanochemical reactions remain poorly understood.…”

Mechanochemistry for sustainable and efficient dehydrogenation/hydrogenation

“…Particularly successful among these emergent approaches to cleaner, solvent-free chemistry are mechanochemical techniques, in which chemical and/or materials transformations are induced and/or sustained by mechanical agitation in the form of grinding, milling or other types of shear and extrusion, with or without the need for milling media. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Mechanochemical transformations have a long history, with one of the earliest reports coming from Theophrastus of Eresus, who described a methodology for mechanochemical production of mercury metal by manual grinding of cinnabarite (mercury(II) sulfide) using a mortar and pestle made from copper or bronze. 29 While inorganic materials, such as ores and minerals, have been processed through mechanical grinding since Antiquity, the underlying chemical transformations have not been systematically investigated until the late 19 th century, when Faraday described the mechanically-induced transformations of metal salts (1820), 30,31 and D r a f t outcomes compared to treatment by heat or pressure.…”

“…[49][50][51] Over the past two decades, the applications of mechanochemistry to organic synthesis have been rapidly expanding, and it is now well established that the mechanochemical reaction environment sustains and promotes a wide range of transformations, including organocatalytic, enzyme-and metal-catalyzed reactions, and can often lead to selectivities that are very different from those encountered in solution. While the scope of mechanochemistry in organic synthesis has been extensively reviewed within the last decade, 18,24,52 this review focuses specifically on the emergent applications of ball-milling for conducting the reactions of hydrogenation and/or dehydrogenation which are critical for the development of cleaner, more sustainable chemical D r a f t manufacturing. For that reason, we will particularly highlight the recent applications of mechanochemistry to key transformations, such as the reduction of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ).…”