Themed collection 2019 Catalysis Science & Technology HOT Articles

This review presents the key factors to construct a productive whole-cell biocatalytic cascade exemplified for the biotransformation of renewable fatty acids.

Review on synthesis, coordination chemistry and catalysis with secondary phosphine oxides.

Deracemisation via chemo-enzymatic or multi-enzymatic approaches is the optimum substitute for kinetic resolution, which suffers from the limitation of a theoretical maximum 50% yield albeit high enantiomeric excess is attainable.

PLP-dependent enzymes described on this review are attractive targets for enzyme engineering towards their application in an industrial biotechnology framework.

Transition metal silicides as low-cost and earth-abundant inorganic materials are becoming indispensable constituents in catalytic systems for a variety of applications and exhibit excellent properties for sustainable industrial process.

The intramolecular Fe-catalyzed amination of C–H bonds using azides as nitrene precursors represents an elegant approach toward N-heterocycles. This review summarizes the most recent achievements while focussing on fundamental mechanistic aspects.

The summary of recent advances reveals excellent potentials for the preparation of novel bifunctional catalysts with excellent catalytic performances for n-alkane hydroisomerization.

The latest development in the catalytic hydroboration of CO groups is summarized in this review. Access to borate ester intermediates provides a pathway to convert them into the corresponding valuable functionalized alcohols.

Advances in transition-metal (Ru, Co, Cu, and Fe) complex-based catalysts since 2000 are briefly summarized in terms of catalyst selection and application for photocatalytic H₂ evolution.

A review of the recent progress in revealing the structures, formation, and reactivity of the active sites in Fe-, Co-, Ni- and Cu-exchanged zeolites as well as outlooks on future research challenges and opportunities is presented.

Mo speciation and coking progress over the Mo/HMCM-22 catalysts were investigated via in situ UV-Raman spectroscopy in both MDA process and catalyst regeneration by O₂.

Ti_0.9Zr_0.1O₂ complex oxide particles exhibit superior catalytic performances for the direct power storage into glycolic acid via electroreduction of oxalic acid due to favorable crystallinity.

A precursor-dilution strategy is developed to prepare an impurity-free Fe single atom catalyst with superior oxygen reduction reaction catalytic performance.

A mild amination of aryl C–H initiated by laccase-mediated oxidation of 4-phenylurazole is described.

A wide band-gap photocatalyst SrNb₂O₆ was adjusted to response to visible light in H₂ and O₂ evolution due to the new electron state in its band gap created by the Sn(II) dopant.

The strong interaction between BiOCl and PDI preferentially formed. Owing to the strongly coupled heterojunction interface and conjugated structure of PDI, a rapid interfacial charge transfer was allowed from PDI to BiOCl across the interface.

We describe a novel approach to prepare cellular methanol synthesis catalysts by combining additive manufacturing (AM) of a Cu–Al alloy followed by selective leaching of Al with aqueous NaOH solutions.

The Pd/MIL-125-NH₂ hybrid photocatalyst exhibits great advantages in charge separation and molecule activation, with sufficient generation of both superoxide radical and singlet oxygen toward selective oxidation of organic molecules.

In this paper, the first photoelectrocatalytic 3-pyridinemethanol oxidation to 3-pyridinemethanal and vitamin B₃ was investigated.

Based on substrate-coupled cofactor regeneration system, a high 2-propanol tolerance SmADH2 together with TBCR system can synthesise structurally diverse chiral alcohols at a high substrate loading with only 1.25 equivalents of 2-propanol.

The spatially separated Pt/CdS/N–ZnO/CoO_x graphene microtubule (PCNZCo-GM) with double cocatalysts is prepared by a capillary action assisted hydrothermal method for enhancing charge separation efficiency and photocatalytic oxidation ability.

Highly selective hydrogenation of quinoline by electron-deficient Rh species containing fullerene.

In this work, 3D cage-type mesoporous SBA-16 materials functionalized with –COOH groups are used to support Pt metals and provide high catalytic activity for toluene oxidation.

The current study on Au/Pd@UiO-66-NH₂ explores a novel approach towards photocatalytic SMC coupling reaction. This investigation highlights a well studied mechanistic pathway towards the formation of biphenyl as the target product.

Nanostructured Ni–xFe/Al₂O₃ catalysts prepared by sol–gel combustion synthesis (SGC) display superior activity in hydrogenation of 1,4-butynediol to 1,4-butenediol. The Fe addition promoted the Ni reducibility and stabilized the Al₂O₃ structure.

The long-debated intermediates of ethylene polymerization are revealed using uniform d⁸ metal ions in zeolites.

FE towards formation of formic acid over Cu₆Sn₅ core–Sn oxide shell structure was higher than that of Sn plate and Sn NP/CB. We believe that the key factor affecting the high selectivity is a compressive strain of surface.

The hierarchical structure enhances oxygen diffusion, improves electron transfer, and exposes more catalytic active sites for the ORR.

Cu-Modulated zeolites can be promising candidate catalysts in the direct conversion of carbon dioxide and methane to acetic acid.

Manganese(I) complexes bearing readily accessible triazole ligands are effective catalysts for the hydrosilylation of carbonyl and carboxyl compounds.

To raise the methyl formate (MF) selectivity at high methanol conversion is one of the most challenging topics for photocatalytic partial oxidation of methanol to MF.

Rh-Containing artificial metalloenzymes based on two mutants of sterol carrier protein_2L (SCP_2L) have been shown to act as hydroformylases, exhibiting significant activity and unexpectedly high selectivity in the hydroformylation of alkenes.

DFT calculations disclosed that the sign of enantioselectivity in chiral-phosphoric-acid catalyzed reactions can be tuned by BINOL- or SPINOL-derived backbones.

The CO hydrogenation reaction was studied under methanation conditions (H₂/CO >3, 250–300 °C) on Co/SiO₂ catalysts with different mean Co nanoparticle size (d_p = 4 nm, 13 nm and 33 nm).

In this work, we present a facile and straightforward approach to synthesize, activate and benchmark small, i.e. 1.6 nm in diameter, Ir nanoparticles (NP) as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts.

In this work, a series of GaO_y supported on mesoporous HZSM-5 (GaO_y/meso-XHZSM-5; Si/Al (X), X = 10, 20, 30, and 40) catalysts with different Si/Al molar ratios were prepared for use in the coaromatization of methane and propane.

The effects of a liquid phase environment on the hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol, a prototypical lignin derived compound, have been investigated over a Ru catalyst from first principles.

Oxygen vacancies catalyzed ozone into hydroxyl radicals which accelerated organic mineralization. Light pre-treatment of ceria intensifies its oxygen vacancy defect levels which are central to its performance in catalytic ozonation.

This simple and clean bioprocess enables the economically attractive and environmentally benign production of the bioactive dipeptide L-Car.

Nickel(II)complexes of N₄-ligands are reported as efficient catalysts for direct benzene hydroxylation via bis(μ-oxo)dinickel(III) intermediate species. The exclusive phenol formation is achieved with a yield of 41%.

In EPOC the adsorption energies of the reactants and products are modified by applying an electrochemical potential to the catalyst. DFT computations unveil that the C–C and O–O bond dissociation are accelerated under positive and negative potential, respectively.

A Ni(I)/Ni(III) catalytic cycle allows aryl trifluoromethyl sulfides to be obtained at room temperature from [NMe₄][SCF₃] and aryl halides.

Characteristic a L-threonine transaldolase (LTTA) and reaction conditions optimization for asymmetric synthesis of L-threo-β-hydroxy-α-amino acids.

Efficient photocatalytic reactions of Cr(VI) reduction, ciprofloxacin and RhB oxidation with Sn(II) doped BiOBr.

A sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus ternary-doped cattle-bone-derived hierarchically porous carbon metal-free electrocatalyst was synthesized, exhibiting superior oxygen reduction performance compared to Pt/C.

We introduce and experimentally validate a simple titration method for quantifying the number of carbenes acting as active sites in the metathesis of ethylene with 2-butenes over Mo- or W-containing catalysts.

Electrochemical water oxidation catalyzed by a homogeneous Ni–NHC/pyridine complex demonstrated electrolyte-dependent catalytic performances. The catalyst displayed a stable catalytic current of oxygen evolution in long-term bulk electrolysis.

Thermo-responsive polymer nanoreactors containing chiral salen Cr(III) complexes exhibited unprecedented efficiency and facile reusability in asymmetric epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins in water.

Fe₂O₃has drawn significant attention in photocatalysis due to its natural abundance, thermodynamic stability, environmental compatibility, low toxicity and narrow bandgap.

Proposed reaction mechanism for CO₂ methanation on NiAl-MO/CeO₂-x catalysts.

Theoretical study of ketone hydrogenation revealed that the catalyst regeneration step is more sensitive to the ligand effect.

Doping heteroatoms (Mn and N) and tuning the curvature of carbon nanotubes could efficiently elevate the C p-band center, lower the absolute electrode potential, and thus enhance the HER performance.

In this work, bismuth nanosphere doped polymeric carbon nitride (Bi/g-C₃N₄) was applied for photocatalytically converting antibiotic wastewater into hydrogen energy.

A new hydroxylated and carbonylated melamine was purposefully designed and constructed for the synthesis of targeted porous O-doped g-C₃N₄ nanosheets.

Catalytic reactions on surfaces with forced oscillations in physical or electronic properties undergo controlled acceleration consistent with the selected parameters of frequency, amplitude, and external stimulus waveform.

Schematic diagram of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase-catalyzed BES.

The acidic properties of zeolite catalysts play a crucial role in governing catalytic performances, which makes the acidity characterization an important subject in the field of zeolite catalysis.

A carbon film encapsulated Co NP catalyst (Co@NC) was highly active, selective and stable for the hydrogenation of glycidol to 1,3-PDO.

Selective mono-substitution of symmetric diesters was demonstrated using an immobilized Mycobacterium smegmatis esterase/acyltransferase (MsAcT) variant.

Optimizing the electronic coupling in heterogeneous catalysts by tuning metal–metal interactions remains a significant challenge.

In this work, the active sites generated in hydrogen reduction and the reaction pathways for the water gas shift (WGS) reaction over Co/CeO₂ catalysts were studied by in situ XAS and XPS coupled with DFT+U calculations.

The oxygenated products in light-driven Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over Ru/SiC catalysts are aldehydes rather than alcohols.

A H₂O₂-modified titanate nanomaterial was synthesized to improve catalytic activity. The influencing factors, intermediate product transformation pathways and degradation mechanism of the photodegradation process of NPX by the HTNM were studied.

We synthesized Cu modified S-doped g-C₃N₄ thin sheets using calcination followed by a wet-impregnation method. The photocatalytic activity was studied for reduction of CO₂ to CO and CH₄ in the presence of water and a plausible mechanism is explained.

A sacrificial template strategy is developed to synthesize highly dispersed γ-Fe₂O₃ embedded in porous N-doped carbon. The as-synthesized catalyst exhibits high ORR performance and presents a power density of 112 mW cm⁻² in zinc–air battery.

In this work, the effect of photochemically modifying nanoporous bismuth vanadate in Co²⁺ solution in acetate buffer (abbreviated as Co–Ac) on water oxidation was thoroughly studied.

The formation of M–Zn-intermetallic species (M = Ni, Pd) in the course of the Negishi reaction in THF solvent and their potential impact on in situ catalyst inhibition were investigated by DFT calculations carried out at two levels of theory.

A large fraction of the global natural gas reserves is in the form of sour gas, i.e. contains hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), and needs to be sweetened before utilization.

The Pt–CeO₂ catalyst with adsorption sites and oxygen-rich vacancies exhibited outstanding activity towards CO and toluene co-oxidation.

The mechanisms of enhanced photocatalysis efficiency and suppression of toxic intermediate production during photocatalytic NO oxidation on B-doped g-C₃N₄ were revealed.