Mechanochemistry: a web themed issue

Stuart L. James

Stuart James is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Queen's University Belfast. Before moving to Belfast he held a Fixed-Term Lectureship at Imperial College London (under Professor Mike Mingos), post-doctoral positions at Cambridge (with Professor Paul Raithby) and Utrecht (with Professor Gerard van Koten) and a Royal Society Post-doctoral Research Fellowship in Strasbourg (with Dr Jean-Pierre Sauvage). He obtained his PhD from The University of Bristol supervised by Professor Paul Pringle. His current research interests are in mechanochemical synthesis and porous liquids.

Tomislav Friščić

Tomislav Friščić is an Assistant Professor at McGill University since 2011. He received his BSc at the University of Zagreb under the supervision of Branko Kaitner, followed with a PhD at the University of Iowa with Len MacGillivray. Between 2006–2008 he was a post-doctoral associate with William Jones and from 2008–2011 a Herchel Smith Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His research is in the application and development of catalytic and self-assembly methodologies of solid-state synthesis in areas of organic, metal–organic, pharmaceutical and materials chemistry. He has co-authored 100 research and review articles and was awarded the 2011 RSC Harrison–Meldola Medal.

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The current resurgence of interest in mechanochemistry is generating a dynamic, exciting and interdisciplinary research field. Our aim with this theme issue was to attract high quality, stimulating articles which reflect the current research themes in this area as broadly as possible. As such, a strong current trend is the application of techniques which have long been practiced in the context of insoluble extended inorganic materials, to molecular synthesis where standard solution-based approaches are normally adopted by default. Several articles in this collection reflect this trend, revealing the benefits of time, simplicity, cost and lower waste that it can provide in an ever increasing range of organic reactions under solvent-free conditions. In addition, it is impressive to see that the yields of quite complex covalent assemblies can be dramatically increased by using simple, solventless grinding. In addition to these ‘efficiency’ benefits, several articles illustrate instances of molecular mechanochemical synthesis as a more fundamentally enabling technique, i.e. providing products or forms of materials that cannot be obtained, or which are impractical to obtain, using normal solution-based methods. Despite these advances in solvent-free molecular synthesis, solvents remain prevalent for the isolation of products in satisfactorily pure form. Whilst devising solvent-free methods for product recovery and isolation is perhaps more challenging still than performing reactions without solvents, it is impressive to see this aspect now also beginning to be addressed. Practical benefits aside, several contributions to this theme issue also address the more fundamental aspects of the technique, which is important in helping to give mechanochemical synthesis a more predictive basis. Also pleasing to see reflected in this theme issue is the natural connection which exists between mechanochemistry and other techniques, such as sonochemistry.

Finally, returning to the roots of mechanochemistry in the synthesis of extended inorganic materials, it is important to recall that the large body of work which already exists, thanks to the pioneers in this area, can provide many useful lessons for the growing cohort of scientists who are applying mechanochemical synthesis in other areas. Indeed, the mechanochemistry of these materials remains a vibrant field in itself.

Current challenges in the area (perhaps addressed in future theme issues (!)) include demonstrating scalability, quantitative and in situ reaction monitoring, greater control over reaction conditions and, in general, obtaining a better microscopic understanding of mechanochemical processes. These aspects are all important if the full potential of mechanochemical synthesis is to be achieved.

We are very pleased with the theme issue. We wish to thank all the authors who have contributed, and we hope that the readers of these articles find them informative and stimulating.

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