Volume 4 Issue 10, October 2021

Of the few known catalytic RNAs in biology, all but the ribosome involve reactions with phosphodiester bonds. Now, a ribozyme that catalyses a completely different reaction was discovered in all three domains of life.

Artificial metalloenzymes (ArMs) combine the reaction scope of chemocatalysts with the selectivity of enzymes. This Review discusses the prospects and recent progress in utilizing ArMs in whole cells for applications in diverse areas such as drug therapy and integration with biosynthetic pathways.

Thomas Haas is an employee of Evonik Industries AG, and is responsible for the Rheticus project. Here, he talks to Nature Catalysis about the challenges encountered in developing a proof-of-concept catalytic scheme into a commercially relevant pilot plant.

Despite its importance in the context of natural gas engines emissions treatment, methane oxidation remains challenging. Now, the authors introduce an approach to stabilize PdO_x rafts on ceria by trapping Pt single atoms in the support resulting in a superior catalyst for this transformation.

Chemoselective reactions are often characterized by an activity–selectivity trade-off that renders their optimization difficult. Here gold nanoparticles equipped with a platinum monolayer are introduced that, thanks to lattice expansion and ligand effect, achieve a remarkable performance for the chemoselective hydrogenation of halonitrobenzenes

Establishing structure–activity relationships is crucial for the design of improved catalysts. Now, by developing a method based on electrochemical scanning tunnelling microscopy, the active sites of graphene/iron/platinum interfaces are visualized with atomic-scale precision in real time during the hydrogen evolution reaction.

The valorization of CO₂ via its hydrogenation to methanol is a highly sought-after reaction although only a handful of catalysts can efficiently promote this transformation. Here, the authors engineer the interface of a copper catalyst supported on a silica–molybdenum MXene composite, achieving a remarkable performance in the reduction of CO₂ to methanol.

Ribozymes that use the cellular cofactor S-adenosyl-l-methionine to methylate RNA remained elusive. Now, such a ribozyme is reported by identifying natural sequences that are active in vitro; and crystal structures of the ribozyme with and without the cofactor are determined.

The challenge in non-oxidative coupling of methane lies in the activation of the first C–H bond while avoiding further dehydrogenations, which lead to the formation of coke. Here, atomically thin platinum nanolayers on two-dimensional molybdenum titanium carbides are reported as a superior catalyst for this reaction owing to reduced coke formation.

Periselective catalytic asymmetric cross-Diels–Alder reactions between two different conjugated dienes remain underdeveloped. Now, the selectivity challenges are overcome in such a reaction of electron-poor 2-pyrones and unactivated conjugated dienes, and an ambimodal transition state is identified.

Enantioselective C(sp³)–C(sp³) coupling plays an important role in organic synthesis, but limitations remain. Now, cobalt-catalysed enantioselective C(sp³)–C(sp³) coupling between achiral fluoroalkenes and alkyl halides enables the streamlined and auxiliary-free synthesis of chiral fluoroalkanes.