Metallic nanoparticles hosted in mesoporous oxide thin films for catalytic applications

The study of metallic nanoparticles (NP) acting as catalysts supported by mesoporous oxide thin films is presented. Metallic NPs immobilized in mesoporous thin films appears as an ideal medium for the thin-layer-supported catalysis. Palladium NPs are well-known catalysts for arene hydrogenation and recently proved to be effective catalysts for Suzuki and Heck couplings and for allylic substitution process. The transition-metal-catalyzed allylic substitution reaction has become a powerful method for the preparation of secondary and tertiary allylic amines. The use of presynthesized nanoparticles with well-defined properties followed by materials synthesis through sol-gel methods enables the formation of a mesoporous material around particles of any size and shape. Evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method is used for the synthesis of mesoporous thin layers with controlled chemical compositions and tailored pore size and geometry. The immobilization of very active catalytic entities enables a shift for single thin oxide layers from the field of ideal catalyst supports to that of real catalytic materials.