Macleod Julie, Thomas Stephen P
EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Nat Chem. 2025 Sep 16. doi: 10.1038/s41557-025-01955-0.
Hidden catalysis occurs when an impurity or species generated in situ facilitates the reaction instead of the intended catalyst. This pervasive issue plagues reaction development and fundamental understanding, with prominent examples including trace metal contamination, 'metal-free' reactivity, hidden (Brønsted) acid catalysis and hidden borane catalysis. Current methods to identify hidden catalysis are hindered by time-consuming and labour-intensive mechanistic analyses, limiting their practicality and widespread adoption. We introduce a transformative, colorimetric indicator that enables rapid, visual detection of hidden borane catalysis. The colorimetric test was successfully used for reaction sampling, in situ testing, reagent quality control and even test strip analyses. This rapid, visual detection method removes the necessity for laborious and costly mechanistic analyses and offers a powerful tool for chemists to quickly identify and mitigate hidden catalytic effects. This method holds the potential to substantially accelerate discovery and optimization in chemical synthesis by clarifying mechanistic understanding at the outset.
当原位生成的杂质或物种而非预期的催化剂促进反应时，就会发生隐性催化。这个普遍存在的问题困扰着反应开发和基础认识，突出的例子包括痕量金属污染、“无金属”反应性、隐性（布朗斯特）酸催化和隐性硼烷催化。目前识别隐性催化的方法受到耗时且费力的机理分析的阻碍，限制了它们的实用性和广泛应用。我们引入了一种变革性的比色指示剂，能够快速、直观地检测隐性硼烷催化。该比色测试成功用于反应取样、原位测试、试剂质量控制甚至试纸分析。这种快速、直观的检测方法消除了进行费力且昂贵的机理分析的必要性，并为化学家提供了一个强大的工具，以快速识别和减轻隐性催化效应。该方法有可能通过从一开始就阐明机理认识，大幅加速化学合成中的发现和优化。
