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Knowledge of the active sites in catalysts—including the sites that form under working conditions—is vital for future design and development. Here, the authors track the atomic-scale changes in a series of well-defined cobalt-based oxide electrocatalysts, showing that the structurally distinct catalysts develop a similar structural motif as they transform into the catalytically active state.
Despite its potential, the visible light-triggered photocatalytic oxidation of toluene remains difficult due to the lack of efficient and scalable catalytic strategies. Now, a photochromic Bi2WO6–x/amorphous BiOCl composite is reported with the ability to oxidize toluene into benzaldehyde and benzoic acid with outstanding rates and quantum efficiencies.
Ta3N5 is a semiconductor with very promising photocatalytic properties. However, performing overall water splitting with this material has remained elusive. Now, Domen and co-workers report a method for the synthesis of defect-free single-crystal Ta3N5 nanorods capable of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of a co-catalyst.
Microbial production of haem for applications in healthcare and food supplement industry requires high-performing strains. Here, Lee and co-workers report secretory production of free haem by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli strains to produce up to 239 mg l−1 total haem.
Small-pore zeolites that engender high selectivity for light olefins in the conversion of methanol to olefins deactivate rapidly due to the accumulation of unreactive carbonaceous deposits. Now, experiments show that high-pressure hydrogen added to the methanol feed can substantially enhance catalyst lifetime without compromising selectivity.
The low solubility of CO in aqueous electrolytes limits the implementation of CO electrolysers, since low current densities are typically achieved despite the fact that they deliver rather high Faradaic efficiencies to multi-carbon products. Now, Jiao and co-workers report a CO flow electrolyser with a well-controlled electrode–electrolyte interface that can achieve multi-carbon Faradaic efficiencies of 91% with a partial current density of 630 mA cm–2.
Artificial metalloenzymes can combine the scope of synthetic catalysts with the selectivity provided by the protein scaffold, but recycling of the single components is challenging. This work provides a methodology for controlling assembly and disassembly of an artificial metalloenzyme.
Multicomponent couplings allow the rapid formation of molecular complexity from simple starting materials. Now, Ellman and co-workers report a three-component coupling that proceeds via aryl or vinyl C–H addition to dienes and aldehydes, and elucidate the mechanism by isolating a catalyst-bound intermediate. The C–H addition does not occur without all three components in place.
Prenylation is a common step in the synthesis of many natural products, and enantioselective variants require the use of enzymatic catalysts. Now, You and co-workers report a palladium phosphoramidite catalyst capable of enantioselective, dearomative prenylations across a broad range of starting materials, and demonstrate its power in a number of natural product syntheses.
High activity and stability of enzyme cascades are key to their biotechnological application. Here, Willner and co-workers demonstrate that encapsulation in metal–organic framework nanoparticles can improve these features for two- and three-enzyme, as well as NAD+-dependent, cascades.
The bioenergetic metabolism of all life today depends on proton gradients; however, it remains unclear how such gradients developed in early life. Here, Mansy and co-workers establish a possible prebiotic mechanism in which iron–sulfur peptide redox networks generate a trans-membrane pH gradient.
The synthesis of complex terpene compounds in the laboratory using man-made catalysts has proven to be much more complicated than in nature. Now, Tiefenbacher and co-workers report the use of an enzyme-mimicking supramolecular catalyst for the efficient and short synthesis of tricyclic sesquiterpenes.
The synthesis of nanocatalysts with small dimensions and high surface-to-volume ratios is of great interest to lower catalyst costs and exploit catalytic performance enhancements through size effects. Now, Prinz and colleagues show that two-dimensional growth of platinum nanoparticles with suppressed thicknesses can be promoted with passivation-gas-incorporated atomic layer deposition.
Though pentamethylcyclopentadienyl rhodium(iii) complexes have been successfully employed for C–H functionalizations, stereocontrol can be difficult due to the lack of vacant coordination sites on the metal centre. Here, Yoshino, Matsunaga and co-workers show that chiral anions can be used alongside the achiral rhodium complex to catalyse C–H activation and subsequent asymmetric conjugate addition.
The efficient design of electrochemical CO2 reduction catalysts requires high CO2 concentrations on the catalyst surface. Here, Cui and co-workers make use of flexible, hydrophobic, nanoporous polyethylene membranes with good gas permeability to design a catalytic set-up that mimics the alveolus structure in mammalian lungs, achieving high activity and selectivity to CO.
A haem–carbenoid has been proposed to be involved in abiological enzymatic reactions. Now, Hilvert and co-workers provide crystallographic evidence for a haem–carbenoid intermediate as the reactive species in an olefin cyclopropanation reaction catalysed by an artificial metalloenzyme.
Methanol-to-olefins (MTO) conversion over zeolites is a promising route for the production of light olefins. Now, Corma and co-workers show that using mimics of reaction intermediates as structure-directing agents allows the synthesis of highly selective zeolite MTO-catalysts.
The preparation of functionalized amino acids from inexpensive aldehydes is challenging. This work describes the biocatalytic synthesis of l-methionine by applying gaseous CO2 pressure and a coupled amination step to drive the unfavoured equilibrium of a reverse carboxylation reaction.
Supported metal nanoparticles are indispensable catalysts in industry, yet they are often subjected to severe sintering. Now, a general method based on metal immobilization within zeolite is reported for the preparation of highly sinter-resistant catalysts for a broad range of industrially relevant processes.
The properties of polymers depend on monomer composition and chain length, but regulating these structural features during polymer synthesis is a challenge. Now Hecht and co-workers report a photoswitchable catalyst system that can repeatedly be switched between ON and OFF states, allowing remote control of the polymerization process. Furthermore, copolymerization with control over monomer incorporation is demonstrated.