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Real-time and in situ monitoring of mechanochemical milling reactions

Nature Chemistry volume 5, pages 66–73 (2013)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 24 January 2013

This article has been updated

Abstract

Chemical and structural transformations have long been carried out by milling. Such mechanochemical steps are now ubiquitous in a number of industries (such as the pharmaceutical, chemical and metallurgical industries), and are emerging as excellent environmentally friendly alternatives to solution-based syntheses. However, mechanochemical transformations are typically difficult to monitor in real time, which leaves a large gap in the mechanistic understanding required for their development. We now report the real-time study of mechanochemical transformations in a ball mill by means of in situ diffraction of high-energy synchrotron X-rays. Focusing on the mechanosynthesis of metal–organic frameworks, we have directly monitored reaction profiles, the formation of intermediates, and interconversions of framework topologies. Our results reveal that mechanochemistry is highly dynamic, with reaction rates comparable to or greater than those in solution. The technique also enabled us to probe directly how catalytic additives recently introduced in the mechanosynthesis of metal–organic frameworks, such as organic liquids or ionic species, change the reactivity pathways and kinetics.

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Figure 1: The chemical reaction and participating species.
Figure 2: Time-resolved monitoring of mechanochemical synthesis of the ZIF-8 framework from a mixture of ZnO and HMeIm ligand.
Figure 3: Mechanochemical conversions involving the HEtIm ligand depending on the amount of added liquid.
Figure 4: Mechanochemical reactions of ZnO and HIm in the presence of ethanol.
Figure 5: Mechanochemical reactions of ZnO and HIm in the presence of DMF.

Change history

  • 08 January 2013

    In the version of this Article originally published, EPSRC and J. K. M. Sanders should have been included in the Acknowledgements section; this has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of this Article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Herchel Smith Fund, the British Council/DAAD (grant no. 1377), ESRF Grenoble, NanoDTC, the University of Cambridge, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia and EPSRC, as well as a research fellowship (T.F.) and a doctoral fellowship (P.J.B.). McGill University and FQRNT Centre for Green Chemistry and Catalysis are acknowledged for support. The authors thank A.K. Cheetham for comments, W. Jones for support in acquiring the instrumentation and R.C. Nightingale for equipment design and manufacture and J. K. M. Sanders for support. The assistance of A. Kovač and V. Dunjko with graphics preparation is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Centre for Green Chemistry and Catalysis, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, H3A 8B0, Canada

    Tomislav Friščić

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK

    Tomislav Friščić, Patrick J. Beldon & Ana M. Belenguer

  3. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, HR-10002 Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivan Halasz

  4. Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, Stuttgart, D-70569, Germany

    Ivan Halasz, Frank Adams & Robert E. Dinnebier

  5. Structure of Materials Group, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, Grenoble Cedex, F-38043, France

    Simon A.J. Kimber & Veijo Honkimäki

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  1. Tomislav Friščić
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Contributions

The research was organized by T.F., I.H. and R.E.D. Experiments were performed by T.F., I.H., P.J.B., A.M.B., F.A., S.A.J.K. and V.H. Data analysis was performed by I.H., S.A.J.K., T.F., P.J.B. and R.E.D. The manuscript was written by T.F. and I.H., and graphical materials were prepared by I.H., T.F. and P.J.B.

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Correspondence to Tomislav Friščić.

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Friščić, T., Halasz, I., Beldon, P. et al. Real-time and in situ monitoring of mechanochemical milling reactions. Nature Chem 5, 66–73 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1505

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