TY - JOUR A1 - Scheurrell, Kerstin A1 - B. Martins, InĂªs C. A1 - Murray, Claire A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Exploring the role of solvent polarity in mechanochemical Knoevenagel condensation: in situ investigation and isolation of reaction intermediates JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics N2 - Mechanochemistry has proven to be a highly effective method for the synthesis of organic compounds. We studied the kinetics of the catalyst-free Knoevenagel reaction between 4-nitrobenzaldehyde and malononitrile, activated and driven by ball milling. The reaction was investigated in the absence of solvents (neat grinding) and in the presence of solvents with different polarities (liquid-assisted grinding). The reaction was monitored using time-resolved in situ Raman spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Our results indicate a direct relationship between solvent polarity and reaction kinetics, with higher solvent polarity leading to faster product (2-(4-nitrobenzylidone)malononitrile) formation. For the first time, we were able to isolate and determine the structure of an intermediate 2-(hydroxy(4-nitrophenyl)methyl)malononitrile based on PXRD data. KW - Physical and Theoretical Chemistry KW - General Physics and Astronomy PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-588071 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D3CP02883F SN - 1463-9076 VL - 25 IS - 35 SP - 23637 EP - 23644 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-58807 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -