Design and use of nanostructured single-site heterogeneous catalysts for the selective transformation of fine chemicals.

Nanostructured single-site heterogeneous catalysts possess the advantages of classical solid catalysts, in terms of easy recovery and recycling, together with a defined tailored chemical and steric environment around the catalytically active metal site. The use of inorganic oxide supports with selected shape and porosity at a nanometric level may have a relevant impact on the regio- and stereochemistry of the catalytic reaction. Analogously, by choosing the optimal preparation techniques to obtain spatially isolated and well-characterised active sites, it is possible to achieve performances that are comparable to (or, in the most favourable cases, better than) those obtained with homogeneous systems.