Mass spectrometry-led catalyst discovery

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Catalysts speed up reactions. In doing so, they play a crucial role in making chemical processes faster, cleaner and more energy-efficient. Indeed, without catalysts, many chemical transformations are simply not possible. Despite their enormous importance, studying catalysts is difficult. Their very nature implies that they are highly reactive and present at very low concentration; capturing and studying such transient species is challenging. The ideal technique to use is one that is fast, extremely sensitive, and capable of dealing with complex mixtures. In electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), just such a technique exists, but applying it to catalytic problems is not easy. We are leading innovators in this field, developing new methodology and original approaches to make ESI-MS a leading catalyst discovery tool for chemists. We design and synthesize ligands that render otherwise invisible catalysts highly prominent - turning the task of finding the proverbial needle in a haystack into a trivial matter by effectively making only the needles visible. We take our toolkit and apply it imaginatively to problems in catalyst characterization that have proved intractable to other spectroscopic techniques. In doing so, we find out fundamental information on the identity of the intermediates, resting states and decomposition products. These data allow us to pursue new improved catalysts for a wide range of commercially-relevant processes, from the synthesis of fine chemicals, plastics and even biodiesel.