A team of researchers has discovered an unusual form of aluminum that challenges long-established assumptions about the behavior of this common metal.
Researchers at King’s College London have identified a new and unusual way of aluminumone of the most abundant metals in the Earth’s crust.
The discovery points to a very more economical and sustainable use of metals, widely used in modern technology and industry.
The study, presented in a recently published in the journal Nature Communicationswas led by Clare Bakewellsenior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at King’s College.
A equipa de Bakewell created highly reactive molecules aluminum-based, capable of break some of the chemical bonds more resistant, explains .
The study also identified molecular structures never observed beforepaving the way for new types of chemical reactivity.
One of the central achievements of the investigation is the first documented example of a cyclotrihuman. This compound is made up of three aluminum atoms linked together in a triangular arrangement.
The three-atom structure reveals an unusual level of reactivity, remaining stable when dissolved in different solutions.
This stability allows it to participate in a variety of chemical processes, including the splitting of dihydrogenio and the controlled insertion and chain growth of the ethenea two-carbon hydrocarbon that forms a fundamental building block in chemical production.
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Metals play an essential role in the production of both basic and specialty chemicals. Although, many industrial reactionsespecially those involving catalysis, depend on precious metals such as platinum.
Mining extraction and refinement of these materials are expensive and can cause considerable environmental damage. Scientists have long been looking for alternative metals to use in chemical transformations.
“Transition metals are the cornerstones of chemical synthesis and catalysis, but many of the most useful are becoming increasingly difficult to access and extractoften found in regions of political instabilitywhich increases demand and price”, explains Bakewell.
Rare earth elements, also known as rare earth metalsare a group of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table. They include the 15 lanthanides, in addition to scandium (21Sc) and yttrium (39Y), which tend to occur in the same mineral deposits as lanthanides and have similar chemical properties.
These elements are essential in various technological applications and industrial due to their unique properties such as magnetism, luminescence and electrical resistance.
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Rare Earths in the Periodic Table
“Chemists have turned to most common elements of the periodic table, and we chose aluminum, as it is extremely abundant, costing about 20,000 times less than precious metals such as platinum and palladium.”
In addition to designing aluminum compounds for synthetic applicationss, the team discovered entirely new reaction pathways.
“What makes this work special is the fact that we are expanding the frontiers of chemical knowledge. The most exciting thing is that we can use this trimmer of aluminum to build completely new compounds with levels of reactivity never before observed — including 5- and 7-membered aluminum and carbon rings, formed by reaction with ethene,” says Bakewell.
“These capabilities go beyond transition metals which we were initially looking to imitate, placing ourselves at the forefront of chemical research”, adds the researcher.
Bakewell believes this chemistry could allow scientists to invent new types of reactions and build larger molecular structures with distinctive properties. These advances could ultimately support the development of new materials and industrial products.
“We are very much in an exploratory phase and we are just at the beginning of unlocking the potential of these materials abundant in nature”, notes the researcher.
“But from what we have already observed, this chemistry could support a transition to a cleaner chemical productionmore ecological and more economical, while providing us with new discoveries along the way”, he concludes.
