Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The Fe protein of nitrogenase contains a redox-active [Fe4S4] cluster that plays a key role in electron transfer and substrate reduction. Here, Hu and co-workers show that the Fe protein of Methanosarcina acetivorans can reduce CO2 and CO to hydrocarbons under ambient conditions.
Dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) allows the conversion of both enantiomers of a racemic mixture into a single enantiomer of product, and requires both a stereoselective reaction and a means of rapidly racemizing the starting materials. Here, a highly stereoselective iridium-catalysed DKR of secondary allylic alcohols is reported, with mechanistic studies implying that substrate racemization is achieved through carbon–oxygen bond cleavage.
The need for new single enantiomer drug substances helps drive the development of new asymmetric catalytic synthetic methods. A new enantioconvergent process enabled by an ionization racemization mechanism allows a hydrogenative route to chiral compounds with two stereocentres.
The generation of hydrogen fuel from water and visible light requires photoelectrodes that are inexpensive, stable and highly active. Now, Luo, Grätzel and co-workers report Cu2O photocathodes that reach these goals. Incorporation into an unassisted solar water splitting device gives ~3% solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency.
The structural modification of inactive materials to effectively engineer active catalysts is very attractive. Here, layered crystalline Pd3P2S8 is transformed by electrochemical lithiation into amorphous Li-incorporated nanodots. This process turns the inert parent material into a highly active and stable hydrogen-evolving catalyst.
Reactive metal–support interactions are generally considered characteristic of oxide supports. Now, two-dimensional niobium carbide, a member of the MXenes family, has been used as a platinum support providing an active water-gas shift catalyst via reduction-induced formation of stable, catalytically active Nb–Pt nanoparticles.
Historically catalysis has evolved as a set of different fields linked together by a unifying concept. While the distinctions between the various areas serve a purpose, exciting work is happening at the interfaces.
Guiding principles for the design of novel catalysts are key to developing new synthesis approaches. Now, a general principle has been defined to predict the reactivity for the hydrogen cycle of atomically dispersed metals on carbon supports.
Industrial research of new catalysts has benefited from both insight and predictions from first-principles calculations. We now find ourselves on the brink of a digital transformation where multiscale approaches and machine-learning methods promise to revolutionize the field.
Catalytic oxybromination is an important strategy for the upgrade of methane. Here, Pérez-Ramírez and co-workers employ operando photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy as well as kinetic analyses and molecular simulations to unravel the complex reaction mechanism.
Methane borylation allows for the functionalization of an otherwise unreactive compound, enabling its use as a one-carbon building block; however, competing diborylation presents a selectivity issue. Now, a metal–organic-framework-based catalyst highly selective for monoborylation is reported. The selectivity is due to the reaction taking place within the catalyst pores, which excludes the formation of the larger diborlyated product.
Reactive metal–support interactions can tune the activity of heterogeneous catalysts, but have mainly been reported for oxide supports. Now, the metal–support interaction of platinum with MXenes at moderate temperature is reported, using the water-gas shift reaction as an example to showcase the properties of a representative catalyst.
Access to renewable hydrogen represents an important target for the success of the hydrogen economy. Now, a one-pot method is presented for the conversion of cellulosic biomass into hydrogen via formic acid as the intermediate, followed by its application to a fuel cell.
Energy-based descriptors have proven very successful in recent years despite their impracticality from an experimental viewpoint. Here, a universal descriptor based only on electronegativities and coordination numbers is put forward to predict the activity of carbon-based single-metal-atom catalysts for three of the most important electrocatalytic reactions. This descriptor can be extended to metal–macrocycle complexes with similar coordination environments.
The main hurdle to the deployment of carbon nanotubes in the electronics industry is the requirement of obtaining pure semiconductor nanotube horizontal arrays. Here, a method is presented to prepare highly pure semiconductor nanotubes by switching the direction of an applied electric field during synthesis.
