The Best of Two Worlds from the Gold Catalysis Universe: Making Homogeneous Heterogeneous

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts have well-known advantages in the gas or liquid phase, which include facile separation, possibility of recycling, and potential application to continuous flow processes. Homogeneous catalysts have remarkable properties such as high activity, enantioselectivity, and well-characterized structures. Heterogenization of metal complexes, through anchoring of inorganic/organometallic complexes on porous solid materials, is a way to combine the outstanding properties of both systems. This procedure has already been used with complexes of several metals such as chromium, cobalt, copper, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, or palladium, but heterogenization of gold complexes is still rare. Heterogeneous and homogeneous catalyses by gold have already established on their own, and the heterogenization of gold complexes is a very exciting and promising interface area of chemistry. This work reviews the attempts made so far by several authors on this important topic. The results obtained show that these hybrid materials can have improved activity and selectivity and are potential choice candidates for several catalytic processes.