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Organic chemistry

Light opens pathways for nickel catalysis

Nature volume 524, pages 297–298 (2015)Cite this article

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The report of a light-activated catalyst that generates usually inaccessible nickel intermediates provides a general strategy that might allow elusive catalytic reactions to be realized. See Letter p.330

For catalysis mediated by transition metals, the catalyst's oxidation state mainly dictates which reactions are possible. The ability to modulate the inherent oxidation state of a metal intermediate by applying an external stimulus can therefore enable otherwise inaccessible catalytic modes of reactivity, opening up unprecedented opportunities for innovation in metal-mediated catalysis. On page 330, Terrett et al.1 describe how this ideal can be achieved using a catalyst activated by visible light. Their strategy allowed them to develop a general method of coupling carbon atoms to oxygen atoms by using a nickel catalyst, even though nickel is usually resistant to this type of chemical transformation.

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Figure 1: Switching oxidation states for nickel catalysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John J. Murphy and Paolo Melchiorre are at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Tarragona 43007, Spain.,

    John J. Murphy & Paolo Melchiorre

  2. P.M. is also at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona, Spain.,

    Paolo Melchiorre

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  1. John J. Murphy
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  2. Paolo Melchiorre
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Correspondence to Paolo Melchiorre.

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Murphy, J., Melchiorre, P. Light opens pathways for nickel catalysis. Nature 524, 297–298 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15200

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