Browse Articles

Artificial metalloenzymes generally consist of a synthetic (organo)metallic catalyst incorporated into a protein. Asymmetric catalysis by such metalloenzymes could result by virtue of the chiral protein environment. Now, redox-sensitive anchoring enables reversible incorporation of an iridium catalyst for transfer hydrogenation.

Typically, catalysts are discovered through trial and error coupled with chemical intuition. Now, an automatic machine-learning framework has been developed that can guide itself to find intermetallic surfaces with desired catalytic properties.

The design of new catalysts for electrochemical energy storage is of utmost importance. Here, an automated computational screening method is used to identify over 100 intermetallic surfaces as efficient electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction and H₂ evolution.

Plasmonic catalysis has recently revolutionized the field of catalysis, promising to achieve improved control over catalytic reactions by targeting specific electronic excitations. In this Review, Linic and co-workers discuss the recent advances in the field, focusing on the underlying physical mechanisms and their application in catalysis, as well as limitations and future perspectives.

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.

The general importance of electrostatic effects on catalysis is well appreciated, but their use in catalyst design is both promising and challenging. This Perspective discusses recent progress and future directions towards computational optimization of biological and chemical catalysis in terms of electric fields and their connections to experimental catalytic systems.

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 Bi₂WO_6–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.

Catalysis research has immensely benefited from the use of high-performance computing facilities. On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first Top500 list, we briefly revisit its content and evolution and the impact that supercomputers have had in catalysis.

The chemical synthesis of natural products, such as sesquiterpenes, is a daunting task due to their complexity and precise functionalization, and multiple synthetic and purification steps that reduce overall yields are usually required. Now, a highly efficient alternative approach using supramolecular chemistry has been proposed by Tiefenbacher and co-workers.

Metalloprotein activity can be tuned by altering first- and second-sphere interactions with the metal ion or ions. Here, a non-canonical haem axial ligand is introduced into a myoglobin variant, modulating both. The resulting enhancement of cyclopropanation activity illustrates the utility of expanding the suite of available amino acids for biocatalyst engineering.

How the first metabolic network was organized to power a cell remains an enigma. Now, simple iron–sulfur peptides have been used to generate a pH-gradient across a protocell membrane by catalysing hydrogen peroxide reduction. This indicates that short peptides could have fulfilled the role of redox active metalloproteins in early life.

The histidine brace found in certain copper oxidases enables the oxidation of strong C–H bonds in organic substrates. This Perspective highlights and discusses the possible structural and electronic features of this motif and how these features underlie its role in challenging oxidative catalysis.

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.