Progress in organic reactions catalyzed by bimetallic nanomaterials

Nanocatalysis, which is also known as semi-heterogeneous catalysis, sits at the boundary between homogeneous catalysis and heterogeneous catalysis and has been the subject of increasing interest during the course of the last few years. Significant progress has recently been made towards the catalytic applications of bimetallic nanomaterials, which show high levels of activity, selectivity and recyclability. This review provides a summary of bimetallic nanomaterial-catalyzed organic transformations, including selective oxidation, hydrogenation, and coupling reactions, as well as dechlorination, amidation, reductive amination, and hydrogenolysis reactions, and the asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions of arylboronic acids to enones. The complex organic molecules using bimetallic nanocatalysis would be anticipated soon. There is significant scope for bimetallic nanocatalysts to be further developed in terms of our general understanding of their fundamental properties and practical applications. Future development may benefit from the rational design and controllable synthesis of bimetallic nanomaterials, as well as a deeper understanding of their reaction mechanisms and further progress towards the development of sophisticated computational studies involving catalysis, which would require interdisciplinary collaborations. (C) 2013, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.