Download Mass spectrometry-led catalyst discovery

Mass spectrometry-led catalyst discovery
Assc Prof Scott McIndoe
Department of Chemistry, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is a fast, sensitive tool
capable of studying complex mixtures in solution, capabilities that make it, at
first glance, the ideal technique for the direct analysis of homogeneous
catalytic reactions. However, a variety of challenges have prevented ESI-MS
from being more widely applied in this context, including the invisibility of
neutral compounds, an inability to employ non-polar solvents, the complexity
of MS/MS data, speciation changes during ionization, and difficulties
associated with the analysis of air- and moisture-sensitive materials. We’ve
developed solutions to all these problems, and examples of the new
information we can now obtain will be drawn from systems such as palladiumcatalysed cross-coupling, (trans)esterification and olefin hydrogenation.