Researchers at King’s College London have discovered a new form of aluminium which may offer a cheaper and more sustainable alternative to rare and expensive metals used in modern technology.

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The research was carried out under the leadership of Dr Clare Bakewell from the Chemistry Department, where her team developed highly reactive aluminium-based molecules that can break strong chemical bonds. They also identified new molecular structures that had not been seen before.

An important result of the study is the first example of a compound called cyclotrialumane, containing three aluminium atoms arranged in a triangle. It is highly reactive but remains stable in different solutions. Because of this stability, it can take part in different chemical reactions. It can split hydrogen molecules and react with ethene to form larger chemical structures.

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Many industrial chemical reactions use precious metals like platinum. These metals are expensive and harmful to the environment during mining. The researchers chose aluminium because it is very abundant and much cheaper than precious metals such as platinum and palladium. 

In her words, “Transition metals are the workhorses of chemical synthesis and catalysis – but many of the most useful are becoming increasingly difficult to access and extract…we chose aluminium, as it’s super abundant, making it ~20,000 times less expensive than precious metals such as platinum and palladium.”

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The study further shows that this new aluminium compound can form new types of chemical structures, including 5-membered and 7-membered rings made of aluminum and carbon. These ring structures are formed when the aluminium compound reacts with ethene, and the reactions go beyond simply copying the behaviour of transition metals.

Dr Bakewell said, “We’re very much in the exploratory phase, and we’re just at the start of beginning to unlock the capability of these earth-abundant materials.” 

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The researchers believe this discovery could help create new materials and improve chemical production. In the future, this chemistry may support cleaner, greener, and more affordable industrial processes. 

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