Selective Catalysis and Nanoscience: An Inseparable Pair

Abstract

Selective catalysts can be considered as nanomachines designed to perform the synthesis of molecules with high reaction activity and high selectivity. These properties arise from a precise control of the structure of the active sites, of the three‐dimensional environment and of their relationship. In both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts the active site three‐dimensional environment ensemble is always a complex structure resembling the tuneable structure of enzymes, which are the most efficient catalysts optimized by nature over billions of years. To illustrate this concept the structure of a few homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for alkenes hydrogenation and for olefin polymerization are chosen and discussed as examples.