Ga-Based Liquid Metal Catalyst for Mechano-Assisted Carbon-Carbon Coupling Reaction

Traditional solid metal catalysts in organic reaction have been hindered by drawbacks, including limited surface catalytic region, restricted reactant diffusion, catalyst deactivation, low atom utilization efficiency, and harsh reaction condition. To overcome these drawbacks, we introduce liquid metal into organic reaction. An efficient mechano-assisted reaction system was proposed integrating dynamic metal catalyst and liquid metal reaction medium. With a low-energy ball-milling process (at a speed of 270 rad·min^-1), the dynamic metal atoms in liquid state could achieve maximum atomic utilization and fast reaction kinetics compared to solid metal. Furthermore, liquid metal also act as reaction media. It not only offers a homogeneous electron-rich environment for reactants but also continuously disperses active metals to construct a multimetal catalytic system in one step. These would revolutionize the understanding of metal catalysts and reaction media, providing a novel platform for exploration of high-throughput catalysis and discovery of novel chemical reaction in future.