| Heterogeneous catalysis has been essential to the development of efficient chemical processes for more than a century, and this field has been traditionally part of the solid state chemistry and surface science communities. The design of better catalysts has raised the following questions: "what is the structure of the active sites?" and "how to control their nature?" The necessary need to develop more sustainable chemical processes and the success of homogeneous catalysis relying on molecular organometallic chemistry has led the community of molecular chemists to investigate the preparation of single-site heterogeneous catalysts. The authors discuss the molecular design, the preparation, the characterisation and the catalytic applications of well-defined oxides and metal particles. The readers will acquire a molecular understanding of heterogeneous catalysis, which will help them develop a critical view and which will attract them to study this fascinating field.
Molecular chemistry has laid down the rules for understanding and preparingwell-defined organometallic andmetallo-organic complexes that have been central to the development of homogeneous catalysts. The goal of this book is to show that molecular chemistry is also a tool for studying much larger systems, such as those involved in heterogeneous catalysis. Heterogeneous catalysts are typically made of oxide materials, metallic particles, or organometallic components. While the main part of the catalyst is constituted by the bulk of the material, the catalytic events take place at the interface between the reactant phase and the surface of the material, and more specifically at the active sites. Thus, these systems correspond to large ensembles of atoms (metal particles or oxides), which are composed of organometallic and metallo-organic building blocks, and active sites, which can be described as organometallic and metallo-organic centres. It is therefore obvious that molecular organometallic (and inorganic) chemistry must play an essential role in the field of heterogeneous catalysis whether discussing the method of preparation of catalysts, the understanding of catalytic phenomena on surfaces, or the rational development of better catalysts. In this book, we have therefore addressed these various questions through selected examples. The first two chapters focus on themolecular understanding of known industrial heterogeneous catalysts. The third contribution discusses the synthesis and the properties of tailored oxide materials. The next paper addresses the use of surface science as a tool for understanding the active sites of heterogeneous catalysts. The fifth chapter tackles the preparation of well-defined active sites through surface organometallic chemistry and their relation to the understanding of industrial processes. The sixth contribution discusses the use of metal clusters as a model of metallic particles. Finally, the remaining two chapters focus on the use of well-defined organometallic complexes for the synthesis of nanoparticles and their use in catalysis. |