ABSTRACT
The area of nanometals as a part of the broader area of “nanomaterials”1 is rapidly developing and gaining importance. During the last four decades, great efforts have been dedicated to the preparation and use of zero-valent (more exactly, elemental metals) in organic and organometallic reactions. Unfortunately, a majority of them are not suf£ciently active due to a series of factors: high particle size (up to 359 mesh) and oxide and other £lms on their surface. However, these factors can be partially or completely eliminated, if metals are subjected to diverse activation techniques discussed later. Metal activation is necessitated by a host of their applications in a series of in-chemical processes, related with catalysis, organic and organometallic synthesis, etc. During the last two decades, the use of zero-valent activated and nonactivated metals as precursors in organic/organometallic processes has been described in detail in some monographs2-7 and reviews.8,9 In comparison with classic methods using metal salts or carbonyls, the application of metals in the elemental form frequently leads to unique compounds, which cannot be obtained by traditional routes.
