Abstract
Single molecule spectroscopy (SMS) has matured to a point where it can be used as a convenient tool to guide organic synthesis and drug discovery, particularly applicable to catalytic systems where questions related to homogeneous vs heterogeneous pathways are important. SMS can look at intimate mechanistic details that can inspire major improvements of the catalyst performance, its recovery, and reuse. Here, we use the click reaction between alkynes and azides as an example where improvements at the bench have been inspired and validated using single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy.
Highlights
The last decade has seen major advancements in the tools for single molecule spectroscopy (SMS), largely due to improvements in microscopy, light sources, super-stable fluorescent dyes and an increased understanding of the physical principles that today enable spatial resolution much better than that allowed by the diffraction limit.[1]
Work on catalytic reactions on solid particles by Chen,[9,10,11,12,13] Hofkens/Roeffaers,[14,15,16,17] Majima,[18] Goldsmith[19] and others,[20,21] sets the stage to transfer this new knowledge back to the organic laboratory. Inspired by these contributions and by our own experience and interests we embarked in a project to study a reaction at the bench, characterize it at the single molecule-single catalytic site level, use the knowledge acquired to improve the catalytic process at the bench level and return to single molecule microscopy studies to verify/validate the improvements observed in the lab
Our title asks: Is single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy ready to join the organic chemistry toolkit? We believe the answer to this question is YES
Summary
The last decade has seen major advancements in the tools for single molecule spectroscopy (SMS), largely due to improvements in microscopy, light sources, super-stable fluorescent dyes and an increased understanding of the physical principles that today enable spatial resolution much better than that allowed by the diffraction limit.[1]. We use the click reaction between alkynes and azides as an example where improvements at the bench have been inspired and validated using single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy.
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