Sol-gel catalysts for synthetic organic chemistry: milestones in 30 years of successful innovation

First commercialized in the second half of the 1990s as organosilica-entrapped lipases, sol-gel catalysts share several unique properties that make them ideally suited for process chemistry, namely synthetic organic chemistry in the fine chemicals industry. Is their application potential fully realized? What are the obstacles to their widespread uptake in the specialty and fine chemicals industry? Can they also be employed in visible-light photocatalysis? [Figure not available: see fulltext.]