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The reduction of alkynes to alkenes is complicated by the potential for over-reduction to the alkane. Here, for the iridium-catalysed semi-hydrogenation of alkynes, the endpoint of the reaction is clearly identified by a colour change of the metal complex.
Detailed knowledge about its catalytic process is important for exploiting [Fe]-hydrogenase—an enzyme that cleaves and produces H2—for technological purposes. This study presents an atomic-resolution crystal structure of a substrate-bound closed active form of the enzyme and a precise catalytic cycle.
DNAzymes are attractive catalysts for biomedical and biotechnological applications, but their catalytic mechanism remained obscure. This work investigates the detailed reaction mechanism of RNA ligation catalysed by the 9DB1 DNAzyme, revealing that it resembles those of natural protein enzymes.
Axially chiral compounds have proven to be privileged catalysts/ligands for asymmetric catalysis, with BINOL, SPNIOL and their derivatives being particularly successful. Here the authors report a family of axially chiral alkenes, and demonstrate their use in asymmetric catalysis.
The Fischer–Tropsch reaction is one of the key means of producing synthetic fuels. Here a deposition method to disperse cobalt nanoparticles across an alpha alumina support is shown to produce a highly stable system capable of withstanding demanding conditions while providing excellent activity.
Improving the performance of commercial three-way catalysts like rhodium on alumina is a major challenge considering the limited design space allowed for such systems. Now, solution atomic layer deposition is used to incorporate titania or zirconia promoters into this catalyst, leading to remarkable improvements in its overall performance.
Platinum plays a crucial role in various electrocatalytic systems, but its scarcity and cost limit its practical application. Now, a single-atom tailoring strategy applied to platinum nanowires maximizes their specific and mass activities for the hydrogen evolution and methanol and ethanol oxidation reactions.
Electrochemical water splitting in acidic conditions is limited by the lack of inexpensive and stable anode catalysts. Now, Simonov and colleagues report a non-noble metal-based oxygen evolution catalyst formed in situ that exhibits high stability for acidic water oxidation due to a self-healing mechanism.
Electromicrobial production can replace fossil carbon with CO2 and electricity as feedstocks for chemical production. This work analyses and compares different electromicrobial production approaches, providing a data-driven roadmap for the sustainable and efficient implementation of this technology.
The availability of Lewis antigens allows the investigation of their important biological functions, but site-specific fucosylation for their synthesis is challenging. This work reports an enzymatic platform for the synthesis of complex Lewis antigens, offering an opportunity to explore the Lewis antigen related glycome.
For hydrogen to become a direct, portable fuel source, the difficulties with its storage and subsequent release must be addressed. Here ethylene glycol is shown to act as an efficient, reversible liquid-to-liquid hydrogen carrier—particularly attractive due to its theoretical H2 capacity of 6.5 wt%.
H2 is a promising mediator of electrons from electrodes to microbes for chemicals production from CO2—but its low solubility limits the productivity. This work reports nanoemulsions as H2 carriers that improve the solubility and transfer kinetics of H2, increasing the productivity of the system.
Upgrading CO to high-value multicarbon products is a promising avenue for fuel and chemical feedstock production. Here triangular Cu nanosheets that selectively expose the (111) surface exhibit a high acetate partial current density (131 mA cm–2) and Faradaic efficiency (48%) in CO electroreduction.
Immobilized molecular catalysts can be efficient for the electroreduction of CO2, but their practical applicability is hampered by the continued use of rare metals. Here, a photoelectrode based on an earth-abundant molecular catalyst with high CO2 reduction performance is introduced.
In heterogeneous catalysis, solvents—and their interaction with metal supports—have a complex effect on reactivity. This study shows that, in Pd-catalysed furfural hydrogenation, water influences the rate and selectivity by favouring a proton transfer rather than a purely surface-bound mechanism.
Methane monooxygenase (MMO)—a protein of high biotechnological interest for the selective and mild conversion of methane to methanol—lacks a high-throughput production system. Now, the authors report the efficient production of particulate MMO-mimics for catalysis in solution and hydrogels.
A common problem with double C–H activation/cross-coupling is the formation of homocoupled products. Here, the authors show that an ionic group on one reagent during Fe catalysed cross-couplings can lead to a clearly defined order of C–H activation and hence the avoidance of homocoupled side-products.
Axially chiral biaryls have proven to have a wide variety of uses—perhaps most importantly as ligands in asymmetric catalysis—but their synthesis remains challenging. Here, Bin Tan and colleagues report a redox-neutral aryl–aryl coupling, providing a direct route to N,N and N,O axially chiral biaryls in high yields and enantioselectivities.
While organolithium and organomagnesium compounds have well developed methods in organic chemistry, organosodium compounds are much less widely used. Here a method to generate organosodium compounds from aryl chlorides and (hetero)arenes is reported, along with a demonstration of their use in cross-coupling reactions.
New enzymes for the efficient and stereoselective synthesis of chiral amines are of high interest for the pharmaceutical industry. Now, Grogan, Vergne-Vaxelaire and co-workers report the discovery, characterization, crystal structure and engineering of a family of native amine dehydrogenases for the preparation of chiral amines from ketones.