It was early recognised, that early transition metal carbides and nitrides featured catalytic activities similar to the ones of platinum group metals (PGMs). Such ceramics thus attracted a lot of attention, especially from people interested in oil refining and petrochemistry. The use of urea as either a carbon or a nitrogen source enabled the synthesis of various early transition metal nitrides and carbides nanoparticles (TiN, Mo₃N₂, WN, NbC, Mo₂C and W₂C). The ability of these particles to promote the alkylation of ketones with alcohols was tested on benzyl alcohol and acetophenone at 150°C for 20h. All the tested ceramics proved able to catalyse the formation of 1,3-diphenyl propenone. TiN featured the highest activity and was further tested for more difficult alkylations. Interestingly, group VI ceramics promoted Friedel-Crafts reactions. This ability was also studied.

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1. Nonaqueous approach to a metal-organic framework: A new vanadium-oxobenzoate as case study