Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2025-01-10DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01278-2
Jon-Marc McGregor, Jay T. Bender, Amanda S. Petersen, Louise Cañada, Jan Rossmeisl, Joan F. Brennecke, Joaquin Resasco
{"title":"Organic electrolyte cations promote non-aqueous CO2 reduction by mediating interfacial electric fields","authors":"Jon-Marc McGregor, Jay T. Bender, Amanda S. Petersen, Louise Cañada, Jan Rossmeisl, Joan F. Brennecke, Joaquin Resasco","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01278-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01278-2","url":null,"abstract":"The electrochemical reduction of CO2 is sensitive to the microenvironment surrounding catalytic active sites. Although the impact of changing electrolyte composition on rates has been studied intensively in aqueous electrolytes, less is known about the influence of the electrochemical environment in non-aqueous solvents. Here we demonstrate that organic alkylammonium cations influence catalytic performance in non-aqueous media and describe a physical model that rationalizes these observations. Using results from kinetic, spectroscopic and computational techniques, we argue that the strength of the electric field at the catalyst surface is sensitive to the molecular identity of the organic cation in the electrolyte. This is true irrespective of solvent, electrolyte ionic strength or electrolyte anion. Our results suggest that changes in the interfacial electric field strength can be attributed to differences in the cation–electrode distance. Changes in the electric field strength affect CO formation rates as they modify the energetics of the kinetically relevant CO2 activation step. Electrolyte cations have been shown to have a strong impact on reactivity in electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. However, most studies have been performed in an aqueous environment. Here the effect of various alkylammonium cations on CO2 reduction in aprotic solvents is investigated, with the interfacial electric field induced by the cations shown to be a dominant factor.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"79-91"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142961389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2025-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01282-6
Massimo Bocus, Elias Van Den Broeck, Xian Wu, Mathias Bal, Jeroen Bomon, Louis Vanduyfhuys, Bert F. Sels, Bert U. W. Maes, Veronique Van Speybroeck
{"title":"Confined hot-pressurized water in Brønsted-acidic beta zeolite speeds up the O-demethylation of guaiacol","authors":"Massimo Bocus, Elias Van Den Broeck, Xian Wu, Mathias Bal, Jeroen Bomon, Louis Vanduyfhuys, Bert F. Sels, Bert U. W. Maes, Veronique Van Speybroeck","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01282-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01282-6","url":null,"abstract":"Biorefinery technologies that convert lignin into platform chemicals are essential to reduce our future dependence on fossil resources. In these technologies, a key process is the acid-catalysed O-demethylation of guaiacol derivatives in hot-pressurized water using Brønsted mineral acids or microporous zeolites. The fundamental understanding of how hydronium ions behave in a confined environment versus bulk is still limited. Here we investigate the O-demethylation of guaiacol in hot-pressurized water with HCl or H-BEA zeolite catalysts to elucidate the impact of zeolite microporosity on reaction mechanisms and rates. Operando molecular simulations combined with experimental kinetic studies reveal that, regardless of the catalyst type, O-demethylation follows a concerted O-activated SN2 mechanism. The reaction rate is higher in the zeolite due to more active, under-coordinated hydronium ions. Additionally, the molecular organization of solvent and reactants around the confined active site plays a crucial role in modulating the association of the reacting species and the reaction kinetics. Understanding the interplay between solvent, reactant and catalyst is important to advance towards upgrading biomass into useful products, but the process remains challenging. Now a study on guaiacol demethylation in water highlights the substantial shift in catalytic behaviour that occurs when moving from bulk water to the confined space within zeolite channels.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"33-45"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142937423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Site- and enantioselective allylic and propargylic C–H oxidation enabled by copper-based biomimetic catalysis","authors":"Honggang Zhang, Yibo Zhou, Tilong Yang, Jingui Wu, Pinhong Chen, Zhenyang Lin, Guosheng Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01276-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01276-4","url":null,"abstract":"Methods for direct enantioselective oxidation of C(sp3)–H bonds will revolutionize the preparation of chiral alcohols and their derivatives. Enzymatic catalysis, which uses key metal-oxo species to facilitate efficient hydrogen atom abstraction, has evolved as a highly selective approach for C–H oxidation in biological systems. Despite its effectiveness, reproducing this function and achieving high stereoselectivity in biomimetic catalysts has proven to be a daunting task. Here we present a copper-based biomimetic catalytic system that achieves highly efficient asymmetric sp3 C–H oxidation with C–H substrates as the limiting reagent. A Cu(II)-bound tert-butoxy radical is responsible for the site-selective C–H bond cleavage, which resembles the active site of copper-based enzymes for C–H oxidation. The developed method has been successfully accomplished with good functional group compatibility and exceptionally high site- and enantioselectivity, which is applicable for the late-stage oxidation of bioactive compounds. The efficiency of enantioselective sp3 C–H bond oxidation using small synthetic catalysts is usually limited. Now a catalytic system involving a Cu(II)-bound tert-butoxy radical for site-selective C–H bond cleavage achieves allylic and propargylic sp3 C–H oxidation with the C–H substrates as the limiting reagent.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"8 1","pages":"58-66"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142936391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-12-23DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01285-3
Lukas Kaltschnee, Andrey N. Pravdivtsev, Manuel Gehl, Gangfeng Huang, Georgi L. Stoychev, Christoph Riplinger, Maximilian Keitel, Frank Neese, Jan-Bernd Hövener, Alexander A. Auer, Christian Griesinger, Seigo Shima, Stefan Glöggler
{"title":"Publisher Correction: Parahydrogen-enhanced magnetic resonance identification of intermediates in [Fe]-hydrogenase catalysis","authors":"Lukas Kaltschnee, Andrey N. Pravdivtsev, Manuel Gehl, Gangfeng Huang, Georgi L. Stoychev, Christoph Riplinger, Maximilian Keitel, Frank Neese, Jan-Bernd Hövener, Alexander A. Auer, Christian Griesinger, Seigo Shima, Stefan Glöggler","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01285-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-024-01285-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Correction to: <i>Nature Catalysis</i> https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-024-01262-w, published online 13 December 2024.</p>","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":37.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142874733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-12-20DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01274-6
Sven T. Stripp
{"title":"[Fe]-hydrogenase intermediates revealed","authors":"Sven T. Stripp","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01274-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01274-6","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding metalloenzymes can inspire the design of molecular catalysts. Employing signal-enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on parahydrogen-reduced [Fe]-hydrogenase, two reaction intermediates have been characterized. This work paves the way toward a microscopic understanding of these metalloenzymes.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 12","pages":"1264-1265"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142858111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-12-20DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01272-8
Yulong Shan, Hong He
{"title":"One zeolite for multiple Fe species","authors":"Yulong Shan, Hong He","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01272-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01272-8","url":null,"abstract":"Elucidating the nature of the Fe active sites in Fe-zeolite catalysts and the reaction mechanism operating during the concurrent removal of NO and N2O is very challenging. Now, complementary transient operando spectroscopies are deployed to disentangle the structure and activity of diverse Fe species and elementary reaction steps.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 12","pages":"1255-1256"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142858185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-12-20DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01263-9
{"title":"Photobiocatalysis with non-haem iron enzymes for enantioselective radical transformations","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01263-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01263-9","url":null,"abstract":"Photoredox catalysis is merged with metalloenzymatic catalysis to enable asymmetric decarboxylative azidation and thiocyanation. These transformations are achieved by coupling the photoredox activation of N-hydroxyphthalimide esters using a synthetic photocatalyst with enantioselective radical capture by Fe(iii) intermediates of non-haem iron enzymes.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 12","pages":"1266-1267"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142858186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-12-20DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01261-x
Stephan Malzacher, Dominik Meißner, Jan Range, Zvjezdana Findrik Blažević, Katrin Rosenthal, John M. Woodley, Roland Wohlgemuth, Peter Wied, Bernd Nidetzky, Robert T. Giessmann, Kridsadakorn Prakinee, Pimchai Chaiyen, Andreas S. Bommarius, Johann M. Rohwer, Rodrigo O. M. A. de Souza, Peter J. Halling, Jürgen Pleiss, Carsten Kettner, Dörte Rother
{"title":"The STRENDA Biocatalysis Guidelines for cataloguing metadata","authors":"Stephan Malzacher, Dominik Meißner, Jan Range, Zvjezdana Findrik Blažević, Katrin Rosenthal, John M. Woodley, Roland Wohlgemuth, Peter Wied, Bernd Nidetzky, Robert T. Giessmann, Kridsadakorn Prakinee, Pimchai Chaiyen, Andreas S. Bommarius, Johann M. Rohwer, Rodrigo O. M. A. de Souza, Peter J. Halling, Jürgen Pleiss, Carsten Kettner, Dörte Rother","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01261-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01261-x","url":null,"abstract":"Biocatalysis needs improved reproducibility and quality of research reporting. Our interdisciplinary team has developed a flexible and extensible metadata catalogue based on STRENDA guidelines, essential for describing complex experimental setups in biocatalysis. The catalogue is available online via GitHub for community use.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 12","pages":"1245-1249"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142858193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature CatalysisPub Date : 2024-12-20DOI: 10.1038/s41929-024-01255-9
{"title":"1,3-Butadiene formation through selective acetylene electrolysis on partially oxidized copper","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41929-024-01255-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41929-024-01255-9","url":null,"abstract":"Conventional thermocatalytic routes to 1,3-butadiene are energy intensive. Now, a method for the selective electroreduction of acetylene to 1,3-butadiene under ambient conditions is demonstrated. Use of an iodide-containing electrolyte stabilizes partially oxidized copper sites on the catalyst, facilitating the synthesis of 1,3-butadiene with a Faradaic efficiency of up to 93%.","PeriodicalId":18845,"journal":{"name":"Nature Catalysis","volume":"7 12","pages":"1268-1269"},"PeriodicalIF":42.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142858110","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}