Single-Site Heterogeneous Catalysts: From Synthesis to NMR Signal Enhancement

Abstract

Catalysts with well-defined, single, active centers are of great importance and their utilization allows the gap between homo- and heterogeneous catalysis to be bridged and, importantly, the main selectivity problem of heterogeneous catalysis and the main separation challenge of homogeneous catalysis to be overcome. Moreover, the use of single-site catalysts allows the NMR signal to be significantly enhanced through the pairwise addition of two hydrogen atoms from a parahydrogen molecule to an unsaturated substrate. This review covers the fundamentals of the synthesis of single-site catalysts and shows the new aspects of their applications in both modern catalysis and the field of parahydrogen-based hyperpolarization. The different novel aspects of the formation and utilization of single-site catalysts, along with the possibility of NMR signal enhancement observations are described.

Keywords: NMR spectroscopy; heterogeneous catalysis; homogeneous catalysis; imaging agents; supported catalysts.