Volume 4 Issue 9, September 2021

Methods for the direct one-step replacement of a hydrogen atom in a C–H bond by an organic functional group can create enormous possibilities for synthetic applications. On the way to solve this challenge, the discovery of the reaction of organopalladium complexes with olefins opened a new era in catalysis and organic chemistry.

The Haber–Bosch process was introduced at the beginning of the twentieth century; however, its mechanism remained controversial for many years. Thus, a comprehensive mechanistic picture was provided in the eighties.

To produce chemicals and fuels from CO₂ and water while storing excess energy from renewable resources will play a big role in sustainability. Three decades ago, we learned that copper possesses the unique ability to break the stable CO₂ bonds and to form C–C bonds, a key step towards higher-value products.

More than 35 years ago, telomerase activity was discovered by Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider. Today, this enzyme is a promising approach to curing some age-related diseases as well as cancer, but it took time for telomerase to be in the spotlight.

Harnessing a clean, affordable and inexhaustible source of energy is an immense scientific challenge. Scientists moved a step closer in 1972 when the first practical device for direct solar power-to-fuel conversion was reported.

The mechanism of heterogeneous aqueous-phase aerobic oxidations remains under debate. Now, it has been shown that the reaction can be described as two coupled electrochemical half-reactions for oxygen reduction and substrate oxidation, and the thermochemical rates can be derived from the electrochemical half-reactions via the application of mixed potential theory.

Understanding the role of hydrogen bonds at the electrode interface is important for controlling the kinetics of the oxygen-reduction reaction. Here the authors modify gold and platinum surfaces with a series of protic ionic liquids to show that pK_a can be used to optimize proton-coupled electron transfer through hydrogen bonding.

The design of artificial organelles for applications in living cells faces several challenges such as cellular uptake, stability and biocompatibility. Now, fusion of exosomes creates beneficial nanoreactors and their use for compartmentalized biocatalytic cascade reactions in cells is demonstrated.

Reductive aminases show strong potential for the sustainable synthesis of chiral amines, but their application in industrial scale processes is lacking. Now, such an enzyme is screened and engineered allowing its use in commercial manufacturing of abrocitinib JAK1 inhibitor in multi-metric tons.

Information on how metabolic networks respond to the utilization of a non-natural carbon source remains scarce. Now, yeast’s response and adaption to xylose as an alternative carbon source is investigated; cell engineering enhanced growth provides an improved platform to produce chemicals from xylose.

Solvent structuring affects the energy landscape of catalytic reactions, but the quantitative understanding of such effects remains difficult. Now, the structure of water within the micropores of different zeolites is disclosed together with the effects that its reorganization has over alkene epoxidation catalysis.