Pressure enabled organic reactions via confinement between layers of 2D materials | Science Advances

Confinement of reactants within nanoscale spaces of low-dimensional materials has been shown to provide reorientation of strained reactants or stabilization of unstable reactants for synthesis of molecules and tuning of chemical reactivity. While few studies have reported chemistry within zero-dimensional pores and one-dimensional nanotubes, organic reactions in confined spaces between two-dimensional materials have yet to be explored. Here, we demonstrate that reactants confined between atomically thin sheets of graphene or hexagonal boron nitride experience pressures as high as 7 gigapascal, which allows the propagation of solvent-free organic reactions that ordinarily do not occur under standard conditions. Specifically, we show that cyclodehydrogenation of hexaphenylbenzene without catalysts as a proof of concept and oxidative polymerization of dopamine into sheet-like crystalline structure are enabled by the effective high pressure experienced by the reactants between the graphene layers. Our results demonstrate a facile, general approach for performing high-pressure chemistry based on confinement of reactants within two-dimensional materials.