Reviews & Analysis

The catalysis Gordon Research Conference is a much-anticipated biennial gathering of the community to discuss the frontiers in design and development of catalytic materials and processes. Amani Ebrahim briefly touches upon this year’s themes centred on enabling technologies for sustainable societies.

Nickel photoredox catalysis is often limited to electron-deficient and neutral arenes. Arylthianthrenium salts can now be used as redox-active reagents to afford general reactivity with electron-rich arenes.

The enantioselective formation of Csp³–Csp³ bonds is still a substantial challenge in the synthesis of complex molecules. Now, a photocatalytic system has been developed for the enantioselective alkylation of α-amino Csp³−H bonds that promotes the generation of two different alkyl radicals, followed by their cross-coupling at a chiral nickel centre.

A heterogeneous nucleation strategy is used to synthesize a NiFe oxygen evolution reaction catalyst for anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. The resulting catalyst has high electrochemical activity and achieves a stable performance for over 21 months owing to a dense interlayer, which anchors the catalytic layer to the metal substrate.

Using electron- and X-ray-based characterization techniques, three paracrystalline structural motifs are shown to form at the surface of amorphized iridium oxide catalysts upon use for water electrolysis in acidic conditions. An iridium oxide catalyst containing only these paracrystalline structural motifs achieves enhanced performance, making more efficient use of its limited iridium content.

Site-selective acylation of remote arene C(sp²)−H bonds is achieved through N-heterocyclic carbene organocatalysis. This catalytic transformation proceeds through a nitrogen radical-mediated pathway and enables the late-stage modification of drugs, amino acids and peptides under mild conditions.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries are attractive due to their low cost, environmental friendliness, and exceptional performance, but the latter remains poorly understood. Now, a fast catalytic step involved in oxygen redox catalysis is shown to contribute to capacity at a high rate.

Unravelling the key parameters that govern the activity of oxygen evolution reaction catalysts is an essential step towards efficient production of green hydrogen. Now, the repulsion between adsorbates on the electrocatalyst surface has been identified as a powerful promoter for the rate-limiting O–O coupling step.

There is no doubt that identifying active sites at the atomic scale for designing optimal catalysts is a great challenge. Now, by combining computational and experimental results, an advanced methodology is proposed for understanding the structure–activity relationship at the atomic level.

A combination of an iron(ii)-catalyst and a hydroxylammonium salt enables the direct and selective conversion of an inert aromatic C–H bond to a valuable, unprotected amine functionality. This approach solves a long standing challenge in modern synthesis.

Rational design of improved electrocatalysts requires a profound understanding of the catalyst’s active sites during the reaction. However, molecule conversion occurs on the few-nanometre scale and operando tools for simultaneous nanoscale chemical, electronic and structural investigation are scarce. Now, the geometric and electronic creation and evolution of individual active sites during the hydrogen evolution reaction on MoS₂ has been unravelled using electrochemical tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

The absolute position of band edges is widely considered an indispensable design principle for selection of appropriate semiconductors for a given photo(electro)catalytic reaction. In this Perspective, the authors re-examine this idea from a viewpoint of semiconductor physics and make the case that alignment of band edges with chemical redox potentials is of limited importance.

Platinum-free electrocatalysts for anion exchange membrane fuel cells and water electrolysers are required to improve the techno-economic viability of these electrochemical technologies for the sustainable production and use of hydrogen. Modifying the electronic structure of Li-intercalated layered Mn-oxides via Ru doping resulted in a catalyst displaying impressive performance towards both technologies.

The understanding of protein evolution is a central challenge in biology. Now, the evolution of a β-lactamase in vitro reveals that the total effect of mutations can change the rate-limiting step of the catalytic mechanism.

The future of bioproduction lies in efficient C1 utilization. Methanol derived from CO₂ can be fed to engineered bacteria that convert it into platform chemicals currently produced from fossil fuels. Now, recent results confirm we are getting closer.

Atropisomerism is an expanding target of asymmetric catalysis. In this Review, recent advances in atroposelective synthesis under catalytic control are highlighted with a focus on general strategies that provide high versatility and modularity.

Gut microbes have enzymes that break down the heavily glycosylated mucin protein of host animals, but known enzymes recognize only one glycan chain. Now, bioinformatic exploration has uncovered a family of mucinases that targets dense sugar residues.

Malonyl-CoA is one of the fundamental building blocks for the synthesis of industrially or pharmaceutically important chemicals, but its biosynthesis via the innate acetyl-CoA carboxylation pathway remains slow and inefficient. Now, an artificial non-carboxylative malonyl-CoA biosynthetic pathway has been developed, significantly enhancing malonyl-CoA supply by boosting carbon and energy efficiency while sidestepping the inhibitions by host cell regulations.

Ethylene, despite being a cornerstone of the modern petrochemical industry, continues to pose challenges during its production. Now, a dual single-atom catalyst design emerges as a remarkable solution for the efficient semi-hydrogenation of acetylene.

Material–microbe hybrids represent an interesting class of catalyst with potential for high energy efficiency and product selectivity. In this Perspective the authors discuss some of the difficulties in understanding these interdisciplinary systems and the attempts to unify the approaches taken by different research communities to further the field.