What’s happening

Organometallic catalysis requires both the catalyst and solvent, with the catalyst consisting of two components: the metal and the ligand. Recycling the metal is easier than the ligand, which is expensive and slowly breaks down during catalysis, leading to the catalyst’s death. Therefore, ligand-free catalysis is highly desirable. However, the challenge with ligand-free catalysis is that it results in the agglomeration of metal and the lack of optimal steric and electronic properties at the metal center, which can lead to easier oxidation of the lower oxidation state of metal. To address this issue, we developed a ligand-free nano-heterogeneous catalysis that is both stereoretentive and stereoselective.