Click chemistry has been widely used in bioconjugation, polymer synthesis, and the development of new anticancer drugs. Here, we report a nanoporous membrane made of AuCu alloy nanowires, which can effectively catalyze copper(I)-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between azide and terminal alkyne (CuAAC) in flow condition with pressure less than one bar. Comparison studies of the nanowires before and after the reaction using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal Cu(0) and Cu(I) are main species that promote the reaction. This simple strategy can be used to synthesize a variety of compounds with triazole linkage and extended to gram level chemical production.
Keywords: CuAAC; catalyst; click chemistry; membrane; nanowire.