High-throughput investigations employing solvothermal syntheses

High-throughput (HT) methods applied to solvothermal reaction systems are a powerful technique for the rapid systematic investigation of large parameter spaces in a short time, giving rise to the accelerated discovery of new compounds and optimization of synthesis parameters. Large amounts of data can be generated in a short period of time, which provides the opportunity to extract relevant reaction trends and contribute to a better understanding of the role of reaction parameters. While the primary driving forces in the development of high-throughput methods have been commercial considerations to cut down the time to market for new or improved products, the methodology is also well suited for investigations in academia. The fields of application range from the discovery of new compounds. the optimization of syntheses conditions to the extraction of synthesis trends. Examples demonstrating the power of FIT methods will be based on different classes of compounds such as zeolites, inorganic-organic hybrid compounds such as ZIFs, MOFs and MILs and will range from the investigation of two-dimensional to multi-dimensional parameter spaces. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.