Specific effects in microwave chemistry explored through reactor vessel design, theory, and spectroscopy

Microwave chemistry has revolutionized synthetic methodology for the preparation of organics, pharmaceuticals, materials, and peptides. The enhanced reaction rates commonly observed in a microwave have led to wide speculation about the function of molecular microwave absorption and whether the absorption leads to microwave specific effects and enhanced molecular heating. The comparison of theoretical modeling, reactor vessel design, and dielectric spectroscopy allows the nuance of the interaction to be directly understood. The study clearly shows an unaltered silicon carbide vessel allows measurable microwave penetration and therefore, molecular absorption of the microwave photons by the reactants within the reaction vessel cannot be ignored when discussing the role of molecular heating in enhanced molecular reactivity for microwave synthesis. The results of the study yield an improved microwave reactor vessel design that eliminates microwave leakage into the reaction volume by incorporating a noble metal surface layer onto a silicon carbide reaction vessel. The systematic study provides the necessary theory and measurements to better inform the arguments in the field.