Ball mill grinding is a common process for mechanochemical syntheses. In contrast to conventional solution-based reactions, it is atom-economic as the components are added in stoichiometric amounts, cost effective by generating products in shorter periods of time, and sustainable as it is performed solvent-free, and generally without heating. Moreover, mechanochemistry is considered 'green' as it does not produce solvent or toxic chemical waste. In addition to environmental benefits, ball mill grinding circumvents issues of solubility. In many cases, mechanochemical processing allows access to unexpected reaction pathways, some of which even yield new products, inaccessible by solution routes. These many advantages have made mechanochemistry an attractive avenue for research, with applications in many organic, inorganic, and metal-organic chemical syntheses , to prepare functional materials, and to generate nanocatalysts designed for biomass conversion and bio-based catalysts .