Preface

Designing and developing a green, sustainable, and economical reaction is one of the major challenges in chemistry. Besides the traditional need for efficient and selective catalytic reactions, recent chemical synthesis strives to design new and efficient catalytic systems with high rates of catalyst recovery. The initial papers in the field of nanocatalysis were published as early as 1941 on palladium and platinum nanoparticles as catalysts, which were prepared by reduction of the metal salts. This research of Rampino was evocative of the work of Prof. Paul Sabatier (Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1912), who discovered catalyzed hydrogenation using finely divided nickel particles prepared upon reduction of nickel oxide or hydroxide. Then, in 1987, Haruta et al. made another breakthrough in the field of nanocatalysis by reporting the catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles smaller than 5 nm towards the oxidation of CO.

Inspired by the above initial discoveries of nanoparticles as catalysts, nanostructured materials have attracted the scientists’ community and are now recognized as efficient heterogeneous catalysts for various organic transformations and electroanalytical processes. The efficiency, selectivity, and recyclability of nanocatalysts depend on their size, shape, composition, and assembly, which further enhance the appeal of well-defined nanostructured materials as green and sustainable heterogeneous catalysts that are used in a wide variety of organic transformations as well as electroanalytical processes. The role of nanocatalysts in organic synthesis and electroanalysis helps to control the chemical reactions by varying their shape and size, chemical composition, dimensionality, etc. to improve the kinetics of the reaction. Several catalytic sites are explored due to variations in the shape, size, and composition of nanocatalysts, as a specific site can show good selectivity towards a particular reaction pathway.

This book offers an exclusive link between the domains of nanocatalysts and their exploitation in organic syntheses, as well as electrochemistry using nanotechnology-based catalysts and electrode structures, respectively. The book is aimed at preparing a quick and highly condensed knowledge base, which, in turn, is expected to promote further advances in the field of nanocatalysis. Also, the book will open up new dimensions for designing novel nanocatalysts for unexplored chemical reactions important for academia and industries. The topic chosen in the proposed book will benefit a broad range of readers, such as graduate, postgraduate, Ph. D. students, faculty members, and research & development (R & D) personnel, working in these areas as well.