Although the use of ball milling to induce reactions between solids (mechanochemical synthesis) can provide lower-waste routes to chemical products by avoiding solvent during the reaction, there are further potential advantages in using one-pot multistep syntheses to avoid the use of bulk solvents for the purification of intermediates. We report here two-step syntheses involving formation of salen-type ligands from diamines and hydroxyaldehydes followed directly by reactions with metal salts to provide the corresponding metal complexes. Five salen-type ligands 2,2′-[1,2-ethanediylbis[(E)-nitrilomethylidyne]]bis-phenol, ‘salenH₂’, 1; 2,2′-[(±)-1,2-cyclohexanediylbis-[(E)-nitrilomethylidyne]]bis-phenol, 2; 2,2′-[1,2-phenylenebis(nitrilomethylidyne)]-bis-phenol, ‘salphenH₂’ 3; 2-[[(2-aminophenyl)imino]methyl]-phenol, 4; 2,2′-[(±)-1,2-cyclohexanediylbis[(E)-nitrilomethylidyne]]-bis[4,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)]-phenol, ‘Jacobsen ligand’, 5) were found to form readily in a shaker-type ball mill at 0.5 to 3 g scale from their corresponding diamine and aldehyde precursors. Although in some cases both starting materials were liquids, ball milling was still necessary to drive those reactions to completion because precipitation of the product and or intermediates rapidly gave in thick pastes which could not be stirred conventionally. The only ligand which required the addition of solvent was the Jacobsen ligand 5 which required 1.75 mol equivalents of methanol to go to completion. Ligands 1–5 were thus obtained directly in 30–60 minutes in their hydrated forms, due to the presence of water by-product, as free-flowing yellow powders which could be dried by heating to give analytically pure products. The one-armed salphen ligand 4 could also be obtained selectively by changing the reaction stoichiometry to 1 : 1. SalenH₂1 was explored for the one-pot two-step synthesis of metal complexes. In particular, after in situ formation of the ligand by ball milling, metal salts (ZnO, Ni(OAc)₂·4H₂O or Cu(OAc)₂·H₂O) were added directly to the jar and milling continued for a further 30 minutes. Small amounts of methanol (0.4–1.1 mol equivalents) were needed for these reactions to run to completion. The corresponding metal complexes [M(salen)] (M = Zn, 6; Ni, 7; or Cu, 8) were thus obtained quantitatively after 30 minutes in hydrated form, and could be heated briefly to give analytically pure dehydrated products. The all-at-once ‘tandem’ synthesis of [Zn(salen)] 6 was also explored by milling ZnO, ethylene diamine and salicylaldehyde together in the appropriate mole ratio for 60 minutes. This approach also gave the target complex selectively with no solvent needing to be added. Overall, these syntheses were found to be highly efficient in terms of time and the in avoidance of bulk solvent both during the reaction and for the isolation of intermediates. The work demonstrates the applicability of mechanochemical synthesis to one-pot multi-step strategies.

Working towards a fundamental description of mechanochemical reactions through the use of classical molecular dynamics simulations. Capturing the transfer of molecules between two non-volatile molecular crystals during mechanochemical events.

We demonstrate a systematic application of the mechanochemical liquid-assisted grinding (LAG) methodology to screen for forms of zinc imidazolate (ZnIm₂), of fundamental importance as the simplest member of the zeolitic imidazolate framework materials family. The exploration of 45 different liquid additives, selected based on their molecular structure and physicochemical properties has resulted in eight different ZnIm₂ topological forms, appearing in 13 crystallographically distinct solid forms (including two previously unknown forms of the crb (BCT) topology), amorphous phases, and the interrupted moc-Zn₄Im₈HIm. All prepared topological forms were also explored computationally, using dispersion-corrected periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations, enabling the rationalization of screening outcomes, and setting the stage for future prediction of additive-directed metal-organic framework (MOF) synthesis. This first systematic exploration of LAG in screening for three-dimensional MOFs demonstrates the potential of the liquid additive to not only accelerate materials synthesis, but also to direct it toward topologically different MOFs. The discovery of novel forms of a material that already exhibits at least 21 crystallographically and functionally different forms provides a strong testimony on the power of mechanochemistry in metal-organic materials discovery.

Solid-state reaction of the active pharmaceutical ingredient theophylline with citric acid is a well-established example of a mechanochemical reaction leading to a model pharmaceutical cocrystal. Here, classical force field molecular dynamics were employed to investigate molecular mixing and structural distortion that take place upon mechanically driven indentation of a citric acid nanoparticle upon a slab of crystalline theophylline. Through non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, a 6 nm diameter nanoparticle of citric acid was introduced onto an open (001) surface of a theophylline crystal, varying both the angle of incidence of the nanoparticle between 15 ° and 90 ° and the indentation speed between 1 m s⁻¹ and 16 m s⁻¹. This theoretical study enabled the evaluation of how these two parameters promote molecular mixing and overall structural deformation upon mechanical contract of theophylline and citric acid, both of which are important parameters underlying mechanochemical cocrystallisation. The results show that the angle of incidence plays a key role in the molecular transfer ability between the two species and in the structural disruption of the initially spherical nanoparticle. Changing the indentation speed, however, did not lead to a discernible trend in molecular mixing, highlighting the importance of the incident angle in mechanochemical events.

As we strive to perform chemical transformations in a more sustainable fashion, enabling solid-state reactions through mechanochemistry has emerged as a highly successful approach. Due to the wide-ranging applications of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), mechanochemical strategies have already been employed for their synthesis. However, the underlying processes surrounding gold salt reduction, nucleation and growth of AuNPs in the solid state are yet to be understood. Here, we present a mechanically activated aging synthesis of AuNPs, through a solid-state Turkevich reaction. Solid reactants are only briefly exposed to input of mechanical energy before being aged statically over a period of six weeks at different temperatures. This system offers an excellent opportunity for an in situ analysis of both reduction and nanoparticle formation processes. During the aging period, the reaction was monitored using a combination of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, to gain meaningful insights into the mechanisms of solid-state formation of gold nanoparticles. The acquired data allowed for the establishment of the first kinetic model for solid-state nanoparticle formation.