A team of researchers in the USA has now taken the first steps towards the direct synthesis of designer metal oxides generated, with specific surface properties, that can be used as catalysts in reactions used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
The researchers, from Northwestern University in Illinois, have demonstrated the potential in the synthesis of an alumina with a high density of surface loci, called Lewis-acid sites, that can be used to direct the structures created in chemical reactions. The resulting alumina is, according to the researchers, an active catalyst for the aminolysis of epoxide, an important drug synthesis step in the pharmaceutical industry.
The team said that they would now move on to test their metal oxides as catalysts in a range of reactions, and the hope is that they may lead to chemical synthesis pathways that are more effective and cheaper than other routes.
The research is published in the international edition of the journal Angewandte Chemie (2003, 42(21):2415-2418).