A new composite 4-in-1 catalyst has been developed by the researchers of Brown University. The catalyst is able to perform four different types of chemical reaction in the order of sequence. This is helpful for the production of a huge range of products in the pharmaceutical industry.
According to Phys.org, the research was a collaboration between the labs of two professors of the Brown University, Christopher Seto, and Soulheng Sang. The research paper has been published in the journal of the American Chemical Society. These two professors are the co-authors of the research paper of 4-in-1 catalyst.
Normally multiple catalysts are responsible for carrying out all the steps of a reaction, but the discovery of this single nano 4-in-1 catalyst has made it possible to a single catalyst to perform all the steps of the reaction. The work was done, the scientists stated, with an eye toward discovering methods for making the chemical industry more sustainable in the environment. Multi-response catalysts like this one are a stage toward that objective.
Brown University reported the new 4-in-1 catalyst was made by developing silver-palladium nanoparticles on the surface of nanorods made of oxygen-lacking tungsten-oxide (tungsten oxide with a couple of its oxygen atoms missing). The scientists demonstrated that it could catalyze the arrangement of reactions expected to change over regular starting materials formic acid, nitrobenzene and an aldehyde into a benzoxazole, which can be utilized to make antibacterial, antifungals and NSAID painkillers.
The scientists demonstrated that the 4-in-1 catalyst could likewise be utilized to make another compound, quinazoline, which is utilized as a part of an assortment of hostile to disease drugs such as anti-cancer drugs. As the experiment shows that the catalyst is able to perform four chemical reactions at one go, it clearly means that the catalyst can produce the maximum number of products in a chemical reaction for a given quantity of starting materials. This study is proved to be an emerging line towards a greener chemistry.