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Volume 3 Issue 11, November 2020

Discrete catalytic functions

Analogous with a modern production line, the cover image illustrates how precise placement of different active sites (robotic arms) within a hierarchical pore network enables individual catalyst particles to perform a complex sequence of chemical transformations in a cooperative and predictable process reminiscent of substrate channelling (conveyor belt) in biological systems. Here, the authors illustrate this approach for cascade and antagonistic reactions, namely a two-step deacetalization–Knoevenagel condensation of dimethyl acetals to cyanoates and a base-catalysed triacylglyceride transesterification.

See Isaacs et al.

Image: Ella Maru Studio. Cover Design: Valentina Monaco.

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News & Views

  • The development of feasible routes for the valorization of waste plastics is an urgent challenge to be solved. Now, a strategy is introduced for the selective production of hydrogen-rich gas and multi-walled carbon nanotubes in a single-step process using an FeAlOx catalyst and microwave irradiation.

    • Gartzen Lopez
    • Laura Santamaria
    News & Views
  • Enhancing the oxygen exchange rate at the surface of oxides through rational design has long been a key goal of researchers pursuing sustainable energy solutions. Now, a simple infiltration method reveals that reaction rates on porous mixed-conducting oxides scale with the acidity of the infiltrate and can be tuned by orders of magnitude.

    • Sossina M. Haile
    News & Views
  • DNA-based dynamic networks show adaptation to external stimuli toward the generation of the fittest constituent. This selection principle has now been implemented to control the catalytic efficiency of an enzymatic reaction.

    • Lena J. Winat
    • Barbara Saccà
    News & Views
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Comment & Opinion

  • Considerable research achievements were made to address the plastic crisis using biotechnology, but this is still limited to polyesters. This Comment aims to clarify important aspects related to myths and realities about plastic biodegradation and suggests distinct strategies for a bio-based circular plastic economy in the future.

    • Ren Wei
    • Till Tiso
    • Uwe T. Bornscheuer
    Comment
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Reviews

  • Organochlorides are attractive building blocks for photocatalytic synthesis that have been receiving increasing attention lately, thanks to recent methodological advances that overcome their inertness. In this Review Article, Giedyk and colleagues summarise the developments and strategies for their photocatalytic activation.

    • Martyna Cybularczyk-Cecotka
    • Joanna Szczepanik
    • Maciej Giedyk
    Review Article
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