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Nitriles can be hydrogenated with a variety of precious metal catalysts, yet there is a lack of heterogeneous systems based on affordable metals such as iron. Here, the authors report a silica-supported Fe/Fe–O core–shell catalyst with the ability to hydrogenate nitriles in the presence of aluminium additives.
Surface treatments can tune catalysts’ wettability, which can be used to promote their catalytic performance. Now, a potential-dependent dynamic wetting behaviour of cobalt-based oxide catalysts is identified before and during the oxygen evolution reaction.
Aerobic oxidation of propylene is a potential green route to propylene oxide production without the need for harmful oxidizing or wasteful sacrificial reagents. Here, a proof-of-concept integrated photo-electro-heterogeneous catalytic system performs this reaction using in situ-generated H2O2.
Phosphorus compounds with unique chirality due to the presence of a P-stereocentre are obtained through stereoselective catalytic cross-coupling of phosphoramidites and aryl halides. Axial-to-central transfer of chirality is shown to provide ready access to various classes of P-chirogenic compounds that are key to catalysis and drug development.
General and efficient methodologies for the construction of homochiral phosphorus stereocentres are sought-after. Now, merging Pd-catalysed cross-coupling with phosphorus arylation of phosphoramidites provides access to a broad array of asymmetric P-compounds by axial-to-central chirality transfer from BINOL.
Hydrogen production from water electrolysis requires high working voltages and produces H2 only at the cathode. Now, H2 generation during the oxidation of biomass-derived aldehydes is combined with the hydrogen evolution reaction on the cathode for low-voltage H2 production.
Soot combustion catalysts are commonly unable to operate at temperatures under 200 °C. Now, an electrification strategy is proposed to decrease the soot ignition temperature at temperatures as low as 75 °C using electrified conductive oxide catalysts.
The Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling (SMC) usually involves a base-mediated transmetalation, which is problematic for substrates with base-sensitive moieties. To tackle this issue, a Lewis acid-mediated SMC reaction is reported allowing high yields for very base-sensitive systems.
Proton exchange membrane water electrolysers require the development of active, stable and cost-effective catalysts for water oxidation. Now, a Ru/α-MnO2 catalyst with in-situ-formed arrays of Ru atoms is presented for acidic water oxidation, which follows the oxide path mechanism and achieves enhanced activity and stability.
The heterogeneity of industrial particulate catalysts is a major obstacle in the study of their deactivation mechanisms. Here, the authors introduce a droplet microreactor capable of sorting fluid catalytic cracking equilibrium catalyst particles in a high-throughput fashion based on their activity.
Exo-selective Diels–Alderases with a broad substrate scope for synthetically valuable reactions are lacking. Now, a highly exo-selective Diels–Alderase compatible with a wide range of diene and dienophile substrates is discovered, its X-ray structure solved and the catalytic mechanism defined.
Layered double hydroxides of transition metals are known to be highly active for water oxidation, but the nature of their active sites and reaction mechanism are still elusive. Now, a monolayer NiCo hydroxide catalyst, in situ prepared on the working electrode, is reported to exhibit valence oscillation and dynamic generation of active sites during water oxidation.
Utilizing the electrophilicity of ambiphilic silyl nitronates in asymmetric synthesis has remained elusive. Now, silylium-based Lewis acids are used for their activation, achieving the catalytic asymmetric nucleophilic addition of silyl ketene acetals to silyl nitronates for the synthesis of β3-amino acids.
A new class of catalysts based on ternary ruthenium complex hydrides are developed for low-temperature ammonia synthesis. They support a non-dissociative reaction path for dinitrogen reduction, in which lithium or barium cations stabilize the NxHy intermediates and the electron- and H-rich [RuH6]4– anionic centres facilitate an energetically balanced multi-step reaction for ammonia synthesis.