Green chemistry articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The commercial production of green diesel suffers from the requirement for continuous sulfur replenishment to maintain catalytic activity. Here, the authors report a sulfur-free catalytic system that can efficiently produce green diesel from various feedstocks over long periods of operation.

    • De-Chang Li
    • , Zhengyi Pan
    •  & Guang-Hui Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ideal metal selection and atomic-level arrangement for catalysts in CO2 hydrogenation are still uncertain. Here, copper is identified as the most effective promoter for enhancing ZnZrOx catalysts when precisely structured into CuZn ensembles, offering new insights for designing superior catalysts for CO2-based methanol synthesis.

    • Thaylan Pinheiro Araújo
    • , Georgios Giannakakis
    •  & Javier Pérez-Ramírez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving high selectivity of Li+ and Mg2+ is of paramount importance for effective lithium extraction from brines, and nanofiltration (NF) membrane plays a critical role in this process. Here the authors report the fabrication of polyamide NF membranes with ultra-high Li + /Mg2+ selectivity by modifying the interfacial polymerization process with an oil-soluble surfactant.

    • Quan Peng
    • , Ruoyu Wang
    •  & Lei Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The selective reduction of α, β-unsaturated carbonyls remains a challenge. Here the authors report a zinc-based catalyst for this reaction, converting α, β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds into unsaturated alcohols followed by hydrodeoxygenation to form alkenes.

    • Tianjiao Wang
    • , Yu Xin
    •  & Buxing Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Development of high-performance, comfortable and sustainable air filters is challenging. Here, authors design an ultrathin, ultralight dual scale fiber mat composed of true nanofibers and submicron-fibers to integrate the high protection, thermal wet comfort and save raw materials.

    • Yuchen Yang
    • , Xiangshun Li
    •  & Yuekun Lai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The application of the LCC variant of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) hydrolase for industrial degradation of PET has been hindered by the 10% of nonbiodegradable PET. Here, the authors use a computational strategy to engineer TurboPETase which outperforms other PETase variants and achieves nearly complete depolymerization of the postconsumer PET bottles at a high, industrially relevant, level of solids loading.

    • Yinglu Cui
    • , Yanchun Chen
    •  & Bian Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The semi-hydrogenation of alkynes faces the trade-off between activity and selectivity due to undesirable over-hydrogenation. Here the authors report an efficient additive-free WO3-based single-atom Pd catalytic system with a vertical size effect of hydrogen spillover to mediate the trade-off between activity and selectivity.

    • Jinqi Xiong
    • , Shanjun Mao
    •  & Yong Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reduction of CO2 with solar energy is an attractive route to new fuel sources. Here a nanostructured Ru/MnOx photo-thermal catalyst composed of well-defined Ru/MnO/Mn3O4 is reported for CO2 hydrogenation with high selectivity and a CH4 production rate at a mild temperature of 200 °C.

    • Jianxin Zhai
    • , Zhanghui Xia
    •  & Buxing Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While the reported methods for the synthesis of organoselenium compounds mainly employ preformed activated selenium reagents, the direct utilization of elemental selenium in the synthesis is a more attractive but challenging strategy. Here, the authors report the rapid synthesis of versatile organoselenium compounds via mechanical stimulation.

    • Shanshan Chen
    • , Chunying Fan
    •  & Xiaofeng Wei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Utilization of the entire lignocellulose is essential for sustainable and cost-effective biorefineries, but it is hindered by a trade-off between efficient carbohydrate utilization and lignin-to-chemical conversion yield. Here, the authors report a mild lignocellulosic fractionation process using aqueous diethylamine which produces a carbohydrate fraction susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis and a high-quality lignin that delivers high monomer yields upon catalytic amination and depolymerization.

    • Li Xu
    • , Meifang Cao
    •  & Xueqing Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Harvesting osmotic energy in real world high-salinity solutions poses great challenges, authors propose nanofluidic membranes with a dual separation mechanism based on vermiculite nanosheets with an isomorphic substitution structure, showing excellent energy conversion in hypersaline environments.

    • Jin Wang
    • , Zheng Cui
    •  & Lei Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An efficient and cost-effective Mg/Li separation process is necessary for lithium extraction from Salt Lake brines. Inspired by the mangroves, authors developed a direct lithium extraction method from Salt Lake brines through the synergistic effect of an ion separation membrane and a solar evaporator.

    • Shenxiang Zhang
    • , Xian Wei
    •  & Jian Jin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical recycling of plastic wastes is of great significance for sustainable development, which also represents challenges and opportunities for synthesis of value-added chemicals. Here, the authors report a general strategy to degrade polyesters via directly breaking the C-O bond by nucleophilic substitution of halide anion of ionic liquids.

    • Wei Zeng
    • , Yanfei Zhao
    •  & Zhimin Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Peptide drug manufacturing commonly uses large amounts of hazardous solvents primarily due to multiple washings after each step. Here, the authors introduce the concept of a completely wash-free methodology that enables up to 95% waste reduction.

    • Jonathan M. Collins
    • , Sandeep K. Singh
    •  & Christopher L. Houser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Superblack materials could innovate light-centered technologies, however, advances in superblack materials have been constrained by their complex and costly fabrication routes. Here, the authors report a simple top-down strategy, guided by computational methods, to develop robust superblack materials following metal-free wood delignification and carbonization.

    • Bin Zhao
    • , Xuetong Shi
    •  & Bruno D. Mattos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia has emerged as an alternative strategy for effluent treatment and ammonia production. Here, the authors report a pulsed potential approach to overcome the sluggish reaction kinetics caused by the limited distribution of negatively charged nitrate near the working electrode and the competing side reactions.

    • Yanmei Huang
    • , Caihong He
    •  & Yifu Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Converting waste plastic into valuable chemicals is of high interest. However, transformation of N-containing polymers is still challenging. Here the authors report hydrogenolysis of various polyamides using Pt-group metal supported on CeO2 with different selectivity of the alkane using varied Pt-group metals.

    • XinBang Wu
    • , Wei-Tse Lee
    •  & Paul J. Dyson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of robust catalysts that could work under industrial-scale current densities bring promise but also a challenge for hydrogen production. Here, the authors report an in situ activation method to produce ferromagnetic ruthenium clusters that can catalyze the hydrogen evolution reaction at high current densities.

    • Jun Qi
    • , Yadong Du
    •  & Jieshan Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Iron is an ideal catalytic material due to its abundance, low cost, and low toxicity, but conventional iron catalysts show low activity and lack air stability. Here, the authors report an iron phosphide nanocrystal catalyst, which exhibits high stability in air and high activity for the liquid-phase nitrile hydrogenations.

    • Tomohiro Tsuda
    • , Min Sheng
    •  & Takato Mitsudome

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite recent advancements in mechanochemical polymerization, understanding the unique mechanochemical reactivity during the ball milling polymerization process still requires extensive investigations. Here the authors use solid-state anionic ring-opening polymerization to synthesize polyethers from various functional epoxide monomers.

    • Jihye Park
    • , Ahyun Kim
    •  & Byeong-Su Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The nucleophilic substitution reaction (SN2) is one of the oldest yet very useful organic transformations, but surprisingly, the nucleophilic character of isocyanides has never been explored in SN2 reactions. Here the authors show that isocyanides react as versatile nucleophiles in SN2 reactions with alkyl halides in a general manner to afford highly substituted secondary amides by in situ hydrolysis of the intermediate nitrilium ion.

    • Pravin Patil
    • , Qiang Zheng
    •  & Alexander Dömling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrocatalytic conversion of low-cost organic compounds to high-value chemicals urgently demands the development of efficient electrocatalysts. Mao et al. report the synthesis of Cu single-atom dispersed Rh metallene arrays for electrochemical aniline synthesis and biomass upgrading with enhanced electrocatalytic activity.

    • Qiqi Mao
    • , Xu Mu
    •  & Hongjing Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrooxidation of biomass provides a sustainable route to produce valuable chemicals, but suffers from non-Faradaic degradation in alkaline electrolysis at high reactant concentration. Here, the authors develop a single-pass continuous flow reactor to tackle this challenge, achieving kilogram-scale and continuous electrooxidation of glucose to formate and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid with high selectivity and high concentration.

    • Hua Zhou
    • , Yue Ren
    •  & Haohong Duan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the intermetallic synergy and the structure-performances relationships of catalysts remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate a relationship between both the rates, selectivity and the s-block metal acidity in a series of heterodinuclear catalysts based on Co(III) in combination with alkali and alkaline earth metals for three different polymerization reactios.

    • Francesca Fiorentini
    • , Wilfred T. Diment
    •  & Charlotte K. Williams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrochemical conversion of biomass emerges as a green alternative to high pressure, high temperature and hazardous equivalents from classical organic chemistry. Here, the authors show that the electrochemical hydrogenolysis can prevail over the hydrogenation under strong alkaline conditions.

    • Philipp Hauke
    • , Thomas Merzdorf
    •  & Peter Strasser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A dual-site catalyst consisting of Cu nanoparticles (NPs) and atomic Cu sites is designed. The atomic Cu boosts H2O dissociation for modulating the *H coverage on Cu NPs, improving the efficiency of CO2 electroreduction to multi-carbon products.

    • Jiaqi Feng
    • , Libing Zhang
    •  & Buxing Han

  • Article
    | Open Access

    5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is an essential platform chemical for developing a sustainable fine-chemical industry but cost-effective production of HMF requires mild reaction temperatures and efficient catalysts. Here, the authors report a fulvic acid Al complex with photocatalytic activity under sunlight for glucose conversion to HMF in one-pot reaction with good yield.

    • Tana Tana
    • , Pengfei Han
    •  & Huai-Yong Zhu

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Urea, a crucial nitrogen fertilizer, plays a vital role in meeting global food demand. However, its current production method is energy-intensive and environmentally unfriendly. In this commentary article, the authors propose strategies to address and overcome these challenges.

    • Jie Ding
    • , Runping Ye
    •  & Maohong Fan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sustainable recycling of waste plastics is of highly strategic significance. Here, the authors report a photothermal recycling system for transforming polyolefin plastics into high-selectivity liquid fuels through the synergistic utilization of ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared irradiation.

    • Yingxuan Miao
    • , Yunxuan Zhao
    •  & Tierui Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The recycling of polyethylene terephthalate is of utmost importance to reduce environmental pollution and reliance on fossil resources however, the existing methods do not process colored or blended polyethylene terephthalate materials. Here, the authors demonstrate the acetolysis of waste polyethylene terephthalate into terephthalic acid and simultaneous acidic degradation of dyes and additives

    • Yuantao Peng
    • , Jie Yang
    •  & Yao Fu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The global plastic pollution crisis can be mitigated by developing chemically recyclable polymers following the monomer design principle. Here, the authors evaluate substitution effects and structure−property relationships in the ɛ-caprolactone system to guide the design of monomers for the preparation of chemically recyclable polymers.

    • Yi-Min Tu
    • , Fu-Long Gong
    •  & Jian-Bo Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Efficient valorization of lignin, a sustainable source of functionalized aromatic products, would reduce dependence on fossil-derived feedstocks. Here, the authors directly transform lignin into valuable functionalized diaryl ethers in near-theoretical-maximum yields, using oxidative cross coupling under copper catalysis.

    • Mingyang Liu
    •  & Paul J. Dyson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is an urgent need to develop effective heterogeneous Fenton-like catalysts for water treatment. Here, the authors demonstrate that nanoconfinement of cobalt oxide catalysts in carbon nanotubes can selectively degrade pollutants at high reaction rate.

    • Tongcai Liu
    • , Shaoze Xiao
    •  & Yalei Zhang

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