Stability is a key property for any catalyst. The description of stability, however, varies in the literature depending on the subfield. In this Review the authors present a systematic literature analysis aimed at identifying generalized deactivation modes and their prevalence in different areas of catalysis to offer a comprehensive descriptive framework of catalyst deactivation.

Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide formation is an advancing field with various approaches motivated by the promise of a green oxidant and energy carrier for a sustainable future. An assessment on quantification methods, sacrificial agents and best practices is provided to avoid false positives and support progress in the field.

Paola Laurino and Moni Hamolsky talk to Nature Catalysis about the Rosalind Franklin Forum for Female Scientists, Open to All (Roz), recalling the forum’s origins and aspirations.

Progress in the field of photocatalytic CO₂ reduction has been constrained by a lack of comparability between studies. This Perspective provides recommendations for best practices in the undertaking and reporting of experimental data in this promising research area.

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.

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.

Fe–N–C catalysts are a promising alternative to precious metals in fuel cell cathodes, but they suffer from durability issues. Now, a preparation method is reported that allows increasing the active site density while also improving durability.

Plasmonic composites have potential for photocatalytic conversions using solar light; however, complex interactions between light and the components are poorly understood. Here, a highly ordered two-dimensional plasmonic bimetallic AuPt supercrystal demonstrates a high rate of H₂ generation from formic acid while providing insight into the interaction between plasmonic antenna and catalyst.

Anion-exchange membrane fuel cells are promising devices to produce electricity from green hydrogen, but the development of suitable cathode catalysts is required for their successful deployment. Now, Co(CN)₃ microcrystals with cyanide linkages and well-defined coordination structures are shown to exhibit high oxygen reduction reaction performance in alkaline conditions.

Terpenoids are natural products with high value in the chemical industry; however, their expression in different hosts is limited by the availability of cytochrome P450. Here the authors show the engineering of recombinant Escherichia coli that can easily produce terpenoids from different classes and species.