Volume 5 Issue 9, September 2022

Metabolic engineering of microbes constitutes a promising strategy to make the industrial production of chemicals more sustainable. This Review discusses recent advances of targeted high-throughput genome editing to construct next-generation cell factories for bioproduction.

Single-atom, small cluster and nanoparticle catalysts feature intriguing reactivity for a variety of transformations, which is often attributed to the properties of specific atomic species. This Review critically revisits the reactivity of such catalysts in term of the ensemble effects that arise from the interaction of multiple metal atoms or single atomic species with neighbouring atoms from supports, additives or surface ligands.

The successful deployment of protonic ceramic fuel cells requires the discovery of high-performance and low-cost cathode catalysts. Now, theoretical insights guide the rational design of a Ba_0.875Fe_0.875Zr_0.125O_3−δ material that achieves excellent oxygen reduction performance.

Controlling the enantioselectivity in metallaphotoredox-catalysed radical cross-couplings using cobalt has proven challenging. Now, the identification of a chiral polydentate ligand enables cobalt-catalysed enantioselective couplings with a broad scope of radicals affording chiral heterobiaryl products.

Selective electrocatalytic conversion of nitrogen species requires control over proton and electron transfer. Here, independent optimization of the driving force for proton transfer is realized through the use of MoS₂ phases with different pK_as, allowing high selectivity for NO, N₂O, N₂ and NH₄⁺ to be achieved by varying the applied potential.

Ni–Fe carbon monoxide dehydrogenases (CODHs) are able to oxidize CO with a high rate, but their O₂ sensitivity is a major drawback for their industrial application. This work shows that CODHs can be tailored for industrial or gas cleaning processes by engineering the selectivity of their gas channels.

Copper-based catalysts are traditionally very effective for the hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol, although control over the active site has remained elusive. Here, the authors design a Cu₁/ZrO₂ single-atom catalyst featuring a Cu₁–O₃ site responsible for a remarkable performance at 180 °C.

The activation of CO₂ for catalytic carboxylation of alkenes is mainly limited to two-electron processes. Now, a visible-light photocatalytic single-electron transfer reduction of CO₂ is reported leading to the key intermediate CO₂^•−, which allows carboxylation of unactivated aliphatic alkenes.