Chemistry is one of the most important areas of science. Research in this discipline helps to advance medicines, energy production, construction materials, and just about anything else you can imagine.

For many years, when scientists wanted to combine chemicals, they would use a solvent to dissolve them together. Depending on the chemicals involved and the desired outcome, the solvent could be any number of liquids. Adding heat, electricity, light, or other forms of energy could also be used to encourage the solution to come together as desired.

While there have been many near miraculous achievements made using this type of ‘traditional’ chemistry, new attention is being focused on a method of mixing chemicals called mechanochemistry.

Mechanochemistry is when mechanical forces are used to combine chemicals together. This could be physically grinding two substances together, which can be done either directly or by using mortar or pestle to help facilitate the combination.

This method has been known since the late 19th century, but was largely unused. In a 2022 review of this topic, it was written:

“Although introduced by W. H. Ostwald at the end of the 19th century, mechanochemistry has been often regarded as exotic chemistry. This is beginning to change.”

There are many reasons why this method of chemistry is getting new attention. For one, it may be a lot safer for the scientists who are performing the experiments. Many solvents are hazardous to humans, which increases the risk. Using a mechanical process instead is typically safer.

Another benefit is that it is more environmentally friendly. There is no need to dispose of large amounts of solvents that are contaminated with various chemicals. Since the chemicals are more directly combined through the mechanical process, there is less waste.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of mechanochemistry is that it allows new ways to synthesize materials. An example of this is with certain molecules that are already being recognized for their potential uses in things like herbicides and pharmaceuticals.

The molecule is called N-sulfonylguanidines, and it has been very difficult to synthesize using traditional chemistry. Using mechanical energy, however, has shown a lot of promise in its ability to create more useful products.

It is exciting to see this method that has been dismissed for so long getting renewed attention throughout the scientific community.

To learn more about the potential of mechanochemistry, check out this interesting video:

I’ve never even heard of mechanochemistry.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.