Volume 7 Issue 1, January 2024

Traditional catalyst synthesis primarily hinges on liquid-phase methods. Nevertheless, a quarter of a century ago, the advent of vapour-phase methods such as atomic layer deposition opened up important alternatives to atomically tailor catalysts and boost their performance.

The ab initio atomistic thermodynamics approach, coined by Reuter and Scheffler formally in 2001, remains pivotal for understanding and predicting the stable surfaces of thermal catalysts under technical conditions.

Chiral BINOL-phosphates have qualified as privileged Brønsted acid organocatalysts, providing solutions to many challenging enantioselective transformations for a wide range of substrates under mild reaction conditions. Here we revisit the story of their origins.

Electrocatalysis would not be the same without the rotating disk electrode. Its invention in the mid-twentieth century enabled immense developments, which rendered it a classic technique in electrochemistry. The rotating disk electrode will remain a cornerstone of electrocatalysis with further advances that bridge the gap with real systems.

Enantioconvergent cross-electrophile coupling of non-redox-active alcohol derivatives is challenging. Now, taking advantage of Ni–C bond homolysis, enantioconvergent coupling of non-redox-active propargylic esters with chlorogermanes enables the synthesis of chiral propargyl germylation products.

Low-carbon chemicals generated from CO₂ provide a possible path to improve the sustainability of microbial bioproduction of food and chemicals. Now, using a metabolic engineering approach, yeast is engineered to produce glucose, myo-inositol, glucosamine, sucrose and starch from C_1–3 molecules.

Merging photoredox and biocatalysis provides opportunities to address challenges in synthetic chemistry. Now the combination of a ruthenium photocatalyst for oxidative radical formation and ‘ene’-reductases for radical interception enables an enantiodivergent decarboxylative alkylation reaction.

The electrochemical deoxygenation of carbonyl groups by hydrogenolysis is challenging as the competing hydrogenation usually prevails. Now the electrochemical Clemmensen reduction is proposed, achieving the selective hydrogenolysis of various carbonyl compounds using Zn as the electrocatalyst in a mildly acidic solution.

Using N₂ as a N source to nitrogenate compounds is highly desirable but also very challenging. Now a cascade electrosynthesis strategy is proposed to prepare (CF₃SO₂)₂NLi and its analogues from N₂ via a looped Li–N₂ battery.

Chiral lactams are important pharmacophores and strategies for their synthesis through direct C–H functionalization are highly sought after. Now, intramolecular C–H amidation of dioxazolones via biocatalytic nitrene transfer enables the synthesis of enantioenriched lactams with various ring sizes.

Photocatalytic overall water splitting on particulate systems represents a possibility for clean energy storage, yet efficiencies for the process are typically low. Here, highly concentrated saltwater is used to polarize photoexcited N-doped TiO₂, resulting in enhanced charge separation and a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency approaching 20%.

The reconstruction of Cu electrocatalysts during CO₂ reduction is an impediment to the stability of this technology, yet a clear picture of the species involved in this process remains elusive. Here, the authors demonstrate the presence of transient solution-based Cu(I) species and theoretically predict complexes with CO and oxalate as the likely candidates.

Fixing CO₂ into value-added solid carbon such as carbon nanofibres is a promising process but poses substantial challenges. Now a tandem strategy is proposed where CO₂ and water are electrocatalytically converted into syngas to subsequently form carbon nanofibres via a thermocatalytic process.