Mechanochemistry
Mechanochemistry or mechanical chemistry is the use of mechanical phenomena to induce chemical reactions. Mechanochemistry thus represents a fourth way to cause chemical reactions, complementing thermal reactions in fluids, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. Conventionally mechanochemistry focuses on the transformations of covalent bonds by mechanical force. Not covered by the topic are many phenomena: phase transitions, dynamics of biomolecules (docking, folding), and sonochemistry.[1]
Mechanochemistry is not the same as mechanosynthesis, which refers specifically to the machine-controlled construction of complex molecular products.[2][3]
History
The primal mechanochemical project was to make fire by rubbing pieces of wood against each other, creating friction and hence heat, triggering combustion at the elevated temperature. Another method involves the use of flint and steel, during which a spark (a small particle of pyrophoric metal) spontaneously combusts in air, starting fire instantaneously.
Industrial mechanochemistry began with the grinding of two solid reactants. Mercuric sulfide (the mineral cinnabar) and copper metal thereby react to produce mercury and copper sulfide:[4]
- HgS + 2Cu → Hg + Cu2S
A special issue of Chemical Society Review was dedicated to mechanochemistry.[5]
Process
Mechanochemical transformations are often complex and different from thermal or photochemical mechanisms.[6][7] Ball milling is a widely used process in which mechanical force is used to achieve chemical transformations.[8][9]
It eliminates the need for many solvents, offering the possibility that mechanochemistry could help make many industries more environmentally friendly.[10][11] For example, the mechanochemical process has been used to synthesize pharmaceutically-attractive phenol hydrazones.[12]
Potential applications
Fundamentals and applications ranging from nano materials to technology have been reviewed.[13] The approach has been used to synthesize metallic nanoparticles, catalysts, magnets, γ‐graphyne, metal iodates, nickel–vanadium carbide and molybdenum–vanadium carbide nanocomposite powders.[14]
Ball milling has been used to separate hydrocarbon gases from crude oil. The process used 1-10% of the energy of conventional cryogenics. Differential absorption is affected by milling intensity, pressure and duration. The gases are recovered by heating, at a specific temperature for each gas type. The process has successfully processed alkyne, olefin and paraffin gases using boron nitride powder.
Storage
Mechanochemistry has potential for energy-efficient solid-state storage of hydrogen, ammonia and other fuel gases. The resulting powder is safer than conventional methods of compression and liquefaction.[15]
See also
Further reading
- Boulatov, Roman, ed. (2015). Polymer Mechanochemistry. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-22824-2.
- Lenhardt, J. M.; Ong, M. T.; Choe, R.; Evenhuis, C. R.; Martinez, T. J.; Craig, S. L., Trapping a Diradical Transition State by Mechanochemical Polymer Extension. Science 2010, 329 (5995), 1057-1060
References
- ^ Beyer, Martin K.; Clausen-Schaumann, Hauke (2005). "Mechanochemistry: The Mechanical Activation of Covalent Bonds". Chemical Reviews. 105 (8): 2921–2948. doi:10.1021/cr030697h. PMID 16092823.
- ^ Drexler, K. Eric (1992). Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-57547-4.
- ^ Batelle Memorial Institute and Foresight Nanotech Institute. "Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems" (PDF). Retrieved 23 February 2013.
- ^ Marchini, Marianna; Gandolfi, Massimo; Maini, Lucia; Raggetti, Lucia; Martelli, Matteo (2022). "Exploring the ancient chemistry of mercury". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (24): e2123171119. Bibcode:2022PNAS..11923171M. doi:10.1073/pnas.2123171119. PMID 35671430. S2CID 249464844.
- ^ "Front cover". Chemical Society Reviews. 42 (18): 7487. 2013. doi:10.1039/c3cs90071a. ISSN 0306-0012.
- ^ Hickenboth, Charles R.; Moore, Jeffrey S.; White, Scott R.; Sottos, Nancy R.; Baudry1, Jerome; Wilson, Scott R. (2007). "Biasing Reaction Pathways with Mechanical Force". Nature. 446 (7134): 423–427. Bibcode:2007Natur.446..423H. doi:10.1038/nature05681. PMID 17377579. S2CID 4427747.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)(subscription required) - ^ Carlier, Leslie; Baron, Michel; Chamayou, Alain; Couarraze, Guy (May 2013). "Greener pharmacy using solvent-free synthesis: Investigation of the mechanism in the case of dibenzophenazine". Powder Technology. 240: 41–47. doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2012.07.009. ISSN 0032-5910.
- ^ Carlier, Leslie; Baron, Michel; Chamayou, Alain; Couarraze, Guy (2011-10-27). "ChemInform Abstract: Use of Co-Grinding as a Solvent-Free Solid State Method to Synthesize Dibenzophenazines". ChemInform. 42 (47): no–no. doi:10.1002/chin.201147164. ISSN 0931-7597.
- ^ Salmatonidis, A.; Hesselbach, J.; Lilienkamp, G.; Graumann, T.; Daum, W.; Kwade, A.; Garnweitner, G. (2018-05-29). "Chemical Cross-Linking of Anatase Nanoparticle Thin Films for Enhanced Mechanical Properties". Langmuir. 34 (21): 6109–6116. doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b00479. ISSN 0743-7463.
- ^ Chaudhary, V., et al., ChemPhysChem (2018) 19 (18), 2370, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cphc.201800318
- ^ Lim, Xiaozhi (July 18, 2016). "Grinding Chemicals Together in an Effort to be Greener". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
- ^ Oliveira, P. F. M.; Baron, M.; Chamayou, A.; André-Barrès, C.; Guidetti, B.; Baltas, M. (2014-10-17). "Solvent-free mechanochemical route for green synthesis of pharmaceutically attractive phenol-hydrazones". RSC Adv. 4 (100): 56736–56742. doi:10.1039/c4ra10489g. ISSN 2046-2069.
- ^ Baláž, Peter; Achimovičová, Marcela; Baláž, Matej; Billik, Peter; Cherkezova-Zheleva, Zara; Criado, José Manuel; Delogu, Francesco; Dutková, Erika; Gaffet, Eric; Gotor, Francisco José; Kumar, Rakesh (2013-08-19). "Hallmarks of mechanochemistry: from nanoparticles to technology". Chemical Society Reviews. 42 (18): 7571–7637. doi:10.1039/C3CS35468G. ISSN 1460-4744.
- ^ Chaudhary, Varun; Zhong, Yaoying; Parmar, Harshida; Sharma, Vinay; Tan, Xiao; Ramanujan, Raju V. (August 2018). "Mechanochemical Synthesis of Iron and Cobalt Magnetic Metal Nanoparticles and Iron/Calcium Oxide and Cobalt/Calcium Oxide Nanocomposites". ChemistryOpen. 7 (8): 590–598. doi:10.1002/open.201800091. PMC 6080568. PMID 30094125.
- ^ "Mechanochemical breakthrough unlocks cheap, safe, powdered hydrogen". New Atlas. 2022-07-19. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
