Volume 3 Issue 1, January 2020

Intensified interest in the area of nickel catalysis has driven the quest for an air-stable and modular Ni(0) precatalyst. Now, an air-stable Ni(0)-olefin precatalyst allows for the convenient set-up of nickel-catalysed reactions on the benchtop.

The electrochemical synthesis of high-value chemicals is still far from industrial application, mostly due to the lack of stable and efficient catalysts. Now evidence reveals that gaining a fundamental understanding of an electrochemical reaction can lead to faster development of optimal catalytic materials.

Nickel complexes are of ever-increasing importance in organic synthesis; however, unstable Ni(COD)₂ is still the main Ni(0) source used. Here the authors report a solution to this long-standing issue: an air stable Ni(0) complex that acts as a general precatalyst for numerous nickel-catalysed reactions.

Ethylene glycol is a commodity chemical with an annual consumption of 20 million tonnes. Its production generates 1.6 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of ethylene glycol. To reduce these CO₂ emissions, the authors report a one-step electrochemical route to selectively convert ethylene to ethylene glycol at ambient temperature and pressure in aqueous media.

Additions to alkenes and alkynes are useful routes for generating highly functionalized products. Here the authors report the 1,1-difunctionalization of alkynes through a CuH-catalysed asymmetric hydroboration/hydroamination cascade.

In situ studies of catalytic surface reactions are restricted to a small number of analytical techniques. Here, scanning electron microscopy is utilized to visualize the catalytic hydrogenation of nitrogen dioxide on platinum, showing its potential for monitoring reaction dynamics on surfaces.

Photocatalytic activation of alkyl carbon–chlorine bonds has constantly proven difficult due to the high energies needed to cleave this stable bond. Here a surfactant-based photocatalytic system is used, allowing for the radical dehalogenation and subsequent reactivity of unactivated alkyl chlorides.

Methods to allow access to all isomers of a product are both valuable and challenging to achieve. Here the authors report a catalytic system comprised of an N-heterocyclic carbene and an iridium complex, and show that it can be used for the asymmetric, diastereodivergent synthesis of γ-butyrolactones.

The rational design of catalysts is crucial to make power-to-X technologies viable. Here the authors introduce the delafossite PdCoO₂ as a highly active hydrogen evolution reaction catalyst due to the growth of a tensile-strained Pd-rich capping layer under reductive conditions. Image credit: Christop Hohmann.

Efficient microbial production of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs; C6–C12)—valuable molecules in the oleochemical and biofuel industry—is challenging due to their cellular toxicity. Now, this work improves the production of extracellular MCFAs to over 1 g l⁻¹ by systematically engineering yeast at multiple levels.

Electrochemical conversion of CO₂ into liquid fuels, powered by renewable electricity, offers one means to address the need for the storage of intermittent renewable energy. Now, Sargent and co-workers present a cooperative catalyst design of molecule–metal interfaces to improve the electrosynthesis of ethanol from CO₂ by producing a reaction-intermediate-rich local environment.

Dry reforming of methane can so far afford syngas with equimolar CO and H₂, which is suboptimal for Fischer–Tropsch chemistry. Now a process is reported based on a Ni–In molten metal alloy catalyst that is capable of producing syngas with practically relevant H₂/CO ratios together with separable carbon.