Multifunctional Materials in Selective Catalytic Oxidation

In a departme from the previously discussed stepwise use of various different NOx control strategies (through the combinations of different types of functional materials), we have also looked at the use of nanocomposite 

Normally, in a catalysed process, the catalyst is specifically designed to carry out a single function (an add-catalysed rearrangement, a hydrogenation or dehydrogenation, an oxygen insertion or a C-C bond formation, etc.) and in order to carry out more than one transformation on a substrate a series of catalysts (and reaction steps) would be required. 

In a tandem reaction, the catalyst would be designed to carry our more than one function and in the ideal case none of these functions would interfere with one another and instead of a series of reactions (involving various purification steps) a single catalyst could convert a reactant through a series of steps to generate a desired product. 

We look at the epoxidation of an alkene using a green chemistry approach as an example of an attempt to design and implement a tandem catalyst to carry out a range of sequential functions, i.e. the in situ generation of a selective oxidant and the use of this oxidant in a selective oxidation reaction. 

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