ArticleChemical science2023
Ultrafast C-C and C-N bond formation reactions in water microdroplets facilitated by the spontaneous generation of carbocations.
Article in Chemical science, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pushing C-N bond formation in water: sustainable strategies, mechanistic roles and future perspectives.RSC advances · 2026Review
- Seeing the unseen: spatio-temporal visualization of reactive carbocation intermediates in electrolytic cells.Chemical science · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of ionization and of chemical reactions in charged microdroplets.Chemical science · 2025Review
- Interfacial electromigration for accelerated reactions.Analytica chimica acta · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Carbocations are important electrophilic intermediates in organic chemistry, but their formation typically requires harsh conditions such as extremely low pH, elevated temperature, strong oxidants and/or expensive noble-metal catalysts. Herein, we report the spontaneous generation of highly reactive carbocations in water microdroplets by simply spraying a diarylmethanol aqueous solution. The formation of transient carbocations as well as their ultrafast in-droplet transformations through carbocation-involved C-C and C-N bond formation reactions are directly characterized by mass spectrometry. The intriguing formation and stabilization of carbocations are attributed to the super acidity of the positively charged water microdroplets as well as the high electric fields at the water-air interfaces. Without the utilization of external acids as catalysts, we believe that these microdroplet reactions would pose a new and sustainable way for the construction of aryl-substituted compounds.
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Registered trials
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