By XiaoZhi Lim
Chemical & Engineering News
It’s an inevitable trade-off in catalysis: Homogeneous catalysts are highly active and selective, while heterogeneous catalysts are easily recoverable and reusable. In the last few decades, biphasic catalysts—where the catalyst is held in a liquid immiscible with the reaction medium—have been explored for their potential to achieve the best of both worlds.
Now, a team of researchers from Shanxi University report a way to operate biphasic catalysis systems as a continuous flow process, instead of in batches, which could dramatically increase opportunities for applying these systems in industry (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, DOI:10.1021/jacs.6b04265).
Continue reading at Chemical & Engineering News. Originally published on August 5, 2016.