Sonochemistry: Uses of Ultrasound in Chemistry and Related Disciplines

Abstract

The term sonochemistry is used to describe a subject that uses sound energy to affect chemical processes. This terminology is in keeping with that of the longer established methods that use light (photochemistry) and electricity (electrochemistry) to achieve chemical activation. It might be argued that a more accurate description of the subject would be cavitation chemistry, since the majority of applications rely on the energies generated by acoustic cavitation; however, sonochemistry is the established term and certainly over the last few years giant strides have been made in this subject. Gone are the days when sonochemistry was considered to be a “black art” and simply a method of initiating intransigent reactions, particularly those that depend upon the activation of metallic or solid reagents. Sonochemistry has moved a long way from its beginnings in the 1940s and 1950s, and through its renaissance in the 1970s, to where it now stands as a major new technology available to scientists from a wide range of disciplines. At the time of this writing there are national groups devoted to sonochemistry in the United Kingdom, Germany, Romania, and Japan, together with a flourishing European Society of Sonochemistry. For novices in sonochemistry there are now a number of texts available for study [1–6].