Control of selectivity in heterogeneous catalysis by tuning nanoparticle properties and reactor residence time

A combination of the advantages of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis could enable the development of sustainable catalysts with novel reactivity and selectivity. Although heterogeneous catalysts are often recycled more easily than their homogeneous counterparts, they can be difficult to apply in traditional organic reactions and modification of their properties towards a desired reactivity is, at best, complex. In contrast, tuning the properties of homogeneous catalysts by, for example, modifying the ligands that coordinate a metal centre is better understood. Here, using olefin cyclopropanation reactions catalysed by dendrimer-encapsulated Au nanoclusters as examples, we demonstrate that changing the dendrimer properties allows the catalytic reactivity to be tuned in a similar fashion to ligand modification in a homogeneous catalyst. Furthermore, we show that these heterogeneous catalysts employed in a fixed-bed flow reactor allow fine control over the residence time of the reactants and thus enables the control over product distribution in a way that is not easily available for homogeneous catalysts.