Light-driven chemical reactions have usually been conducted with large amounts of solvents that are often toxic. By combining them with mechanical energy in ball mills, Professor Lars Borchardt's team at the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, has succeeded in carrying them out in the solid-state without resorting heavily to solvents.
Light and mechanical energy interact in this reactor. Credit: Ruhr University Bochum "This provides a sustainable alternative to established synthesis methods," says Borchardt. The researchers published their findings in the journal Angewandte Chemie on February, 24 2023. Ball mills to replace solvents Light is considered the ideal driving force of chemical reactions: it's cheap, available in abundance and produces no waste. This is why light-driven, i.e., photochemical reactions, are highly attractive for the production of chemical compounds. However, they are usually performed in huge amounts of solvent, which are often toxic and generate hazardous waste in enormous quantities. Solid-state photochemical reactions without solvents could present an alternative. However, they have not been feasible so far, as they…