Research articles

The development of gold catalysis is restricted by its high redox potential, and the introduction of strong oxidants to overcome this is accompanied by poor functional group compatibility. Here electrochemical oxidation is used to control gold valence changes, showing excellent compatibility with a wide range of active functional groups and bio-additives.

Synthesizing Se-based nanocrystals with large diameters remains challenging. Here, a reactivity-controlled epitaxial growth strategy was demonstrated to synthesize nanocrystals of ZnSe, CdSe and PbSe with average diameters of 35 nm, 76 nm and 87 nm, respectively. The large ZnSe nanocrystals emitted pure blue light, which is important for display technology.

The synthesis of catharanthine, the direct precursor of anticancer drugs vinblastine and vincristine, is challenging due to its structural complexity. Here synthetic biology enables the construction of a Pichia pastoris cell factory for the biosynthesis and potentially scalable production of catharanthine from simple carbon sources.

A versatile solar-driven hybrid photoelectrochemical platform has been developed for the simultaneous conversion of greenhouse gas CO₂ and waste plastics into value-added fuels and chemicals with high efficiency and selectivity.

The targeted synthesis of heterostructured nanomaterials is required to meet the need of various applications, and the rational design of such nanomaterials is crucial. Now, cation exchange reactions have been designed to maximize product diversity for combinatorial heterostructure discovery. Synthetic guidelines are outlined, translating microscopic observations into high-yield samples.

Direct ribosylation of nucleobases for regioselective ribonucleoside synthesis is a challenge. Now, a prebiotic Ti-catalysed ribosylation of nucleobases is reported, providing selective access to N9 purine nucleosides. Mechanistic analysis reveals key substrate–surface interactions are the origin of the regiocontrol.

The use of acyl functional groups as nucleophilic synthons in transition metal-catalysed carbometallation of unsaturated hydrocarbons remains challenging. Here, nickel-catalysed acylzincation reactions of alkynes and alkenes with organozinc reagents under 1 atm of CO are developed, featuring high functional group tolerance, a broad substrate scope and mild conditions.

A combined copper- and palladium-catalysed atropselective arylboration of alkynes is reported. This method uses B₂pin₂ and sterically hindered aryl bromides for the stereoselective and regioselective synthesis of axially chiral tetrasubstituted alkenylboronates. Mechanistic studies reveal that the stereocontrol originates from a higher-order palladium intermediate.

Preventing metal deposition by cathodic reduction under direct current electrolysis conditions is a formidable challenge in transition-metal-catalysed electrosynthesis. Now, an asymmetric-waveform alternating current (a.c.) electrolysis approach is developed for silver-catalysed C–H phosphorylation where this a.c.-based approach regenerates the silver catalyst and keeps the catalyst loading balanced during the reaction.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are attractive for a variety of applications but their synthesis remains challenging. Now, a scalable and economical 3D-printing approach has been developed for producing libraries of SACs using a variety of metals, coordination environments and spatial geometries.

Stereodefined 1,2-dimetallated alkenes are underexplored in organic synthesis due to their relatively low stability. Now, the reductive anti-1,2-dimetallation of alkynes provides access to trans-1,2-dimagnesio- and 1,2-dialuminoalkenes. The process uses sodium dispersion as a reducing agent with organomagnesium and organoaluminium halides as reduction-resistant electrophiles.