Surface organometallic chemistry: A sustainable approach in modern catalysis

Surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC) is an established concept, associated with specific tools for the characterization of a well-defined single-site catalysts. Primarily, chemical industry preferred heterogeneous catalyst over homogeneous catalyst for various reasons. But the difficulty in development of a well-defined heterogeneous catalyst stalled by the presence of various kinds of active sites as well as their low concentration on surfaces. To develop a well-defined heterogeneous catalyst which can possess hundred percent active sites like that of homogeneous catalyst a new branch was developed called surface organometallic catalyst (SOMCcat). This is a well-proven concept where a homogeneous catalyst could graft on an oxide support to form SOMCcat. These surface species can be well-characterized by modern NMR techniques apart from EXAFS, IR, and gas quantification methods. In this review the application of SOMC strategy for the design and preparation of catalyst for industrial relevant processes are discussed.