Themed collection Catalysis in the USA

Editorial for the themed issue “Catalysis in the USA”.

Here we summarize our recent findings in the area of zeolite synthesis, focusing on pathways to control crystallization in the absence of organics, tailoring crystal habit with growth modifiers, and pioneering techniques in zeolite surface science to elucidate the mechanisms of growth.

Scaling relations simplify descriptions of surface reactivity by unifying the description of similar adsorbates, e.g. those that bind through C.

Microporous and mesoporous silicates with internal or external hydrophobic surfaces show differences in catalytic reactivity and stability in liquid water.

Oxidative desulfurization and alkene epoxidation proceed in heptane–water biphasic system through facile phase transfer of POM by amine terminated oligomer.

New Rh(I) complexes as precursors to efficient catalytic arene C–H activation in trifluoroacetic acid.

Strong binding on oxygen vacancies and metallic domains promotes CO oxidation on partially-reduced PdO(101), while adsorption only on metallic sites promotes CO oxidation when 2D oxide coexists with Pd(111).

A histidine-ligated variant of P450-BM3 catalyzes cyclopropanation of a variety of electron-deficient olefins under ambient conditions with great selectivity.

Visible light driven plasmon-enhanced reverse water gas shift reaction over Au/TiO₂ catalysts for CO₂ conversion.

We report for the first time the synthesis of a Ir–Re alloy catalyst, which exhibits significantly improved activity in glycerol hydrogenolysis and enhanced resistance against particle sintering compared with a Ir–ReO_x structured catalyst.

Density functional theory is used to elucidate and understand the trends in hydrogen evolution activity of transition-metal doped MoS₂ catalysts.

Bimetallic PdZn catalysts supported on carbon black (CB) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were found to be selective for CO-free H₂ production from ethanol at low temperature (250 °C).

The effect of thermal treatment of SSZ-13 on catalytic activity has been investigated by using monomolecular propane conversion as a probe reaction.

The iso-VAPOL ligand is just as effective as VAPOL in the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of aziridines at one-tenth the cost.

Silica-supported Pd and Pd(shell)/Au(core) nanoparticles of a similar size were evaluated for neopentane conversion.

Nb- and W-KIT-6 materials display significant ethylene epoxidation activity with H₂O₂ as the oxidant at mild temperatures that eliminate substrate burning.

Cluster-expansion-based kinetic model reveals that adsorbate interactions both promote and inhibit NO oxidation on the late transition metals.

Intramolecular Pd-catalyzed aerobic oxidative amination of an aryl C–H bond is promoted by in situ generation of dioxane-derived hydroperoxide under the aerobic conditions.

Theoretical study of the hydrodeoxygenation of methyl propionate over Pd (111) model surfaces.

Lignin model compounds containing a β–O–4 linker were synthesized to investigate the role of lignin structure and zeolite type on the product distribution during catalytic fast pyrolysis.

A combination of DFT and ab initio atomistic thermodynamics study illustrated the surface structure evolution of Co⁰/Co²⁺ catalysts under ethanol steam reforming conditions.

A reforming path for propane over Zr-doped ceria is established, along with determination of the active surface under reaction conditions.

In situ synchrotron diffraction in H₂ reveals structural and microstructural details of supported 1–2 nm Pt nanoparticles.

Gold nanoparticles physically trapped in the framework of alumina aerogel exhibit excellent thermal stability and catalytic activity at high temperature.

A combination of X-ray absorption, Raman and UV-visible spectroscopy reveals the competing redox reactions during the deactivation of Fe-based complex catalysts.