Negligible rate enhancement from reported cooperative vibrational strong coupling catalysis

We report the results of an attempt to reproduce a reported cavity catalysis of the ester hydrolysis of para-nitrophenyl acetate due to vibrational strong coupling. While we achieved the same light-matter coupling strength and detuning, we did not observe the reported ten-fold increase in the reaction rate constant. Furthermore, no obvious detuning dependence was observed. The inconsistency with the reported literature suggests that cavity catalysis is sensitive to experimental details beyond the onset of vibrational strong coupling. This indicates that other important factors are involved and have been overlooked so far. We find that more investigation into the limits, key factors, and mechanisms to reliably actualize cavity modified reactions is needed.