Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Despite the availability of large omics datasets, determining intracellular metabolic states is challenging. Now a generative machine learning framework called RENAISSANCE has been developed to estimate missing kinetic parameters and determine time-resolved metabolic reaction rates and metabolite concentrations without requiring training data.
The electrochemical activation of alkanes on metal catalysts is a complex process that is not fully understood. Now an electrochemical protocol is put forward to isolate the adsorption, fragmentation and oxygenation potential-dependent steps of butane activation on a platinum electrode and derive its intricate reaction network.
Muconic acid is an important bio-based chemical; however its applications are limited by the lack of efficient methods to access its trans,trans-isomer. Here the authors address this problem with a catalyst based on single Ru atoms dispersed on zeolite BEA that is capable of unlocking hydride chemistries.
The transition metal-catalysed multicomponent cross-coupling of alkenes currently relies on strongly coordinating groups to direct the reactivity. Now Wu et al. present a nickel catalyst that enables the installation of sp2 and sp3 fragments on alkenes using alcohols and ethers as directing groups.
Four-membered rings have become popular motifs in drug discovery, prompting the synthetic organic chemistry community to develop more expedite approaches to access these scaffolds. Here, the authors report a photocatalytic radical strategy for accessing densely functionalized azetidines from azabicyclo[1.1.0]butanes.
Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis is a promising technology for H2 production using precious metal-free catalysts, but certain hurdles persist for its broad deployment such as the operational stability of its anode catalyst. Now a seed-assisted heterogeneous nucleation method is put forward to prepare a NiFe catalyst with high activity and a stability of over 21 months at 1 A cm−2.
Effective strategies for direct arene C−H functionalization are sought after. Here arene C−H functionalization via iridium nitrenoid-catalysed nucleophilic aromatic substitution allows the coupling of aryl azides with different carbon nucleophiles and is applied to the enantioselective synthesis of NOBINs
Electrocatalysis offers a route to improving the treatment of wastewater, yet the need for supporting electrolytes complicates the purification of products. Here a cell is designed based on a porous solid electrolyte layer with a cation shuttling strategy that allows direct conversion of nitrate-containing wastewater into NH3(g) and purified water.
The activation and transformation of carbon monoxide (CO) continues to attract much attention. Now, the authors report a visible-light-induced, carbonylation-triggered radical relay rearrangement reaction in which the CO insertion step enables (hetero)aryl group migration.
CO2 reduction to value-added products is an attractive strategy in sustainable chemistry. Now a photochemical diode simultaneously drives biophotocathodic CO2-to-multicarbon conversion and photoanodic glycerol oxidation under red light with a photocurrent density of ~1.2 mA cm−2 and a Faradaic efficiency of ~80%.
The non-innocence of electrolyte cations in the activity of CO2 reduction has been widely acknowledged, although these complex effects are not fully understood. Here, opposite to the trend observed with Cu and Ag surfaces, smaller alkali cations greatly enhance CO2-to-methanol conversion on a cobalt molecular electrocatalyst.
Methods for studying the adsorption behaviour of molecules onto surfaces under reactive and non-reactive conditions are needed to improve photocatalysts for water treatment. Here the authors develop an imaging technique, adCOMPEITS, to quantify the adsorption of micropollutants on Au/TiO2 and identify a long-range enhancement effect.
Methods for electrocatalytic deracemization remained elusive. Now, electrocatalytic cyclic deracemization of alcohols is reported, involving sequential anodic dehydrogenation and cathodic hydrogenation using two distinct metal hydride catalysts and a chemically modified electrode to avoid redox incompatibility.
The precise functionalization of distant aromatic C(sp2)–H bonds remains largely unexplored. Here the authors report a para-selective acylation strategy to target remote aryl C(sp2)–H bonds away from an activated functionality through radical N-heterocyclic carbene organocatalysis.
Iridium-based oxides are the most active catalysts for acidic water oxidation, but a complete understanding of their surface reconstruction under operation remains elusive. Now three key paracrystalline structural motifs are identified on the seemingly amorphous reconstructed IrOx surface.
Pt-based catalysts are the state of the art for the oxygen reduction reaction. Now the three-dimensional local atomic structure of PtNi and Mo-doped PtNi nanoparticles is revealed via atomic electron tomography, and a local environment descriptor of catalytic activity is put forwards.
Heterogenized molecular catalysts provide a means to add well-defined active sites to electrode surfaces. Here, using cobalt phthalocyanine on carbon nanotubes in cation-mediated CO2 reduction, the mechanism of molecular dispersion and its impact on rate and product selectivity are revealed.
The use of a transition-metal catalyst for enantioselective alkylation of non-acidic C(sp3)–H bonds remains a challenge in organic synthesis. Now, the authors present a platform for the enantioselective (trideutero)methylation and alkylation of α-amino C(sp3)–H bonds via nickel-photoredox catalysis.
Understanding oscillation phenomena in catalysis is a long-standing challenge. Here the authors report a temporally and spatially resolved operando analysis of CO oxidation over Rh/Al2O3, revealing the interplay of Boudouard reaction and carbon combustion in generating the oscillations.
Cobalt, iron or manganese catalysts are the metals of choice in alkene functionalization reactions via catalytic metal hydride hydrogen atom transfer (MHAT). Now a complementary MHAT-like system based on copper is proposed to operate in a regioselective Markovnikov addition reaction of nucleophiles to olefins.