Water-medium organic synthesis over active and reusable organometal catalysts with tunable nanostructures

Abstract

Water-medium organic synthesis on reusable heterogeneous organometal catalysts represents an important trend in green chemistry owing to the absence of pollution from both toxic organic solvents as reaction media and heavy metal ions leached from the catalysts. However, heterogeneous organometal catalysts usually display lower activities than their corresponding homogeneous ones due to the decreased dispersion and unmatched microenvironment of the active sites, together with enhanced diffusion limitation. Great efforts have been made to develop active heterogeneous organometal catalysts by adjusting the composition, engineering the surface chemistry, and tailoring the morphology and pore structure. In this minireview, we summarize recent progress in designing heterogeneous organometal catalysts with high efficiency and strong durability in various water-medium organic reactions and discuss their structure–performance relationships. This might be beneficial for the development of both powerful immobilized homogeneous catalysts and green chemical transformations.