Tunable Calcium-Apatites as Solid Catalysts for Classical Organic Reactions

Apatites, minerals that are involved in numerous applications in chemistry, biochemistry and medicine have shown important catalytic properties and are emerging as powerful catalysts in various organic reactions (oxidation, C-C bond formation, cycloaddition, N-Arylation, epoxidation, water gas shift reaction, hydroformylation, CH4 coupling reaction….). Apatites, in which the composition and surface properties can be tuned by replacing anions or cations in their structures, leading to a large spectrum of compositions, can also be used as macroligands to support catalytic active centers. In this review we emphasize the creation of a large variety of modified apatites, and describe their structures and properties as well as their catalytic activities.