By devising a method to confine molecules within individual pores of silicon dioxide, A.C. Buchanan and Phil Britt have perhaps unlocked the key to advances in better control over chemical reactions used in the manufacture of thousands of industrial products. Buchanan and Britt, members of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Chemical Sciences Division, are especially excited by the prospects of controlling reaction rates and selectivity. "These are considered the holy grail for chemists and for the chemical industry," Buchanan said. For years, scientists have successfully confined individual molecules in zeolites (microporous crystalline structures), but this new ORNL work creates a world of possibilities. The challenge now is to gain a better understanding of how these larger highly uniform pores can be used as "nano-reactors," Britt said. The hope is that they will be able to do more selective chemical manipulations and perhaps speed reaction times, both of which would be boons to the chemical processing industry. This research is funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.
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