For far too long chemists and industrialists have relied on the use of aggressive reagents such as nitric and sulphuric acids‎,‎ permanganates and dichromates to prepare the massive quantities of both bulk and fine chemicals that are needed for the maintenance of civilised life ‎- materials such as fuels‎,‎ fabrics‎,‎ foodstuffs‎,‎ fertilisers and pharmaceuticals‎.‎ Such aggressive reagents generate vast quantities of environmentally harmful and often toxic by‎-products‎,‎ including the oxides of nitrogen‎,‎ of metal oxides and carbon dioxide‎.‎Now‎,‎ owing to recent advances made in the synthesis of nanoporous solids‎,‎ it is feasible to design new solid catalysts that enable benign‎,‎ mild oxidants to be used‎,‎ frequently without utilising solvents‎,‎ to manufacture the products that the chemical‎,‎ pharmaceutical‎,‎ agro‎- and bio‎-chemical industries require‎.‎ These new solid agents are designated single‎-site heterogeneous catalysts ‎(‎SSHCs‎)‎‎.‎ Their principal characteristics are that all the active sites present in the high‎-area solids are identical in their atomic environment and hence in their energy of interaction with reactants‎,‎ just as in enzymes‎.‎Single‎-site heterogeneous catalysts now occupy a position of growing importance both academically and in their potential for commercial exploitation‎.‎ This text‎,‎ the only one devoted to such catalysts‎,‎ dwells both on principles of design and on applications‎,‎ such as the benign synthesis of nylon 6 and vitamin B3‎.‎ It equips the reader with unifying insights required for future catalytic adventures in the quest for sustainability in the materials used by humankind‎.‎Anyone acquainted with the language of molecules‎,‎ including undergraduates in the physical and biological sciences‎,‎ as well as graduates in engineering and materials science‎,‎ should be able to assimilate the principles and examples presented in this book‎.‎ Inter alia‎,‎ it describes how clean technology and `green‎'‎ processes may be carried out in an environmentally responsible manner‎.‎

• Author‎:‎ J‎.‎ M‎.‎ Thomas
• Publisher‎:‎ Imperial College Press
• ISBN‎:‎ 9781848169104