Highly active, selective and stable catalysts for the hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol are immensely sought after. Now, using a broad range of spectroscopic methods, in-plane double sulfur vacancies of MoS₂ sheets have been suggested to catalyse this reaction using an unusual mechanism.

This Comment articulates simple metrics that can guide early catalysis research to make the manufacture of fuels and chemicals sustainable and affordable. These metrics cover resource efficiency (waste/CO₂ production, selectivity) as well as conversion performances that look at different aspects of the process.

Formic acid is a potential hydrogen carrier, although practical schemes to achieve its dehydrogenation are still rare. Here the authors introduce a stable and efficient ruthenium 9H-acridine pincer complex able to catalyse the additive-free dehydrogenation of neat formic acid, generating even high pressures of H₂ and CO₂ in a closed system.

Common strategies for catalyst design explore ways of fine-tuning continuous structure–property relationships. Here, the abrupt solid–liquid transition of Ga–In and Ga–Sn alloys is shown to have a profound impact on the CO₂ electroreduction performance, with the molten alloy achieving a Faradaic efficiency of 95% formate production.

Rationally manipulating the in-situ-formed catalytically active surface of catalysts is a challenging but promising endeavour. Now, the surface of LiCoO₂ during water oxidation is engineered by Cl doping via a cationic redox-tuning method that modulates in situ leaching and redirects the dynamic surface restructuring.

Enzymatic Diels–Alder reactions are of high synthetic interest, but mechanistic insights remain scarce. Now, a structure of the Diels–Alderase CghA in complex with its product is reported, a catalytic mechanism proposed and the enzyme is engineered to form the energetically disfavoured exo adduct.

The direct transformation of crude oil to chemicals can become a game changer in refocusing the petroleum industry production, but remains technically challenging. Here, the authors introduce a multi-zone fluidized bed reactor in combination with an engineered cracking catalyst for the efficient one-pot production of light olefins from crude oil.

The catalytic hydrogenation of CO₂ to methanol is a crucial reaction for the recycling of this greenhouse gas, although the selection and related performance of commercial catalysts is still limited. Now, the authors introduce sulfur vacancy-rich MoS₂ nanosheets as a superior catalyst for this process, rivalling the commercial benchmark system.

Integration of biocatalysts into redox films has systematically led to a loss of their intrinsic reversibility. Now, a specially designed redox hydrogel preserves the reversibility of a [FeFe] hydrogenase and the importance of this feature for energy conversion applications is demonstrated.