Semi-solid and solid frustrated Lewis pair catalysts

Abstract

Recently discovered homogeneous frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) have attracted much attention for metal-free catalysis due to their promising potential for the activation of small molecules (e.g., H₂, CO, CO₂, NO_x and many others). Hence, a wide range of these homogeneous FLPs have been extensively explored for many advanced organic syntheses, radical chemistry and polymerizations. In particular, these FLPs are efficiently utilized for the hydrogenation of various unsaturated substrates (e.g., olefins, alkynes, esters and ketones). Inspired by the substantial progress in these homogeneous catalytic systems, heterogeneous FLP catalysts, including semi-solid and all-solid catalysts, have also emerged as an exciting and evolving field. In this review, we highlight the recent advances made in heterogeneous FLP-like catalysts and the strategies to construct tailorable interfacial FLP-like active sites on semi-solid and all-solid FLP catalysts. Challenges and outlook for the further development of these catalysts in synthetic chemistry will be discussed.