Combinatorial catalysis: A help for the chemical industry of the near future

The combinatorial approach to the sciences has extended from its beginning in the peptide and pharmaceutical industries to new fields, among them catalysis. Over the last ten years combinatorial catalysis has played an increasingly important role in the screening and discovery of new materials. As the great economic value of catalysis is not the catalyst in itself as a product, but the chemical reaction it enables, these new materials have to be evaluated on the basis of their repercussions. In fact, the improvement of catalysts or catalytic processes could eventually achieve profound environmental impacts, minimising wastes and energy usage, and economic benefits for the chemical industry, balancing economic needs and financial constraints.