DRIFTing through time: Modulation excitation in situ diffuse-reflectance IR Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy with periodic isotopic perturbation (D₂ and ¹³CO) has been applied to elucidate the pathway for the preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide (PROX) over a commercial Pt/alumina catalyst. The time- and phase-domain IR spectra suggest a water-assisted pathway for the preferential oxidation reaction.

[Communication]
Nobutaka Maeda, Fabian Meemken, Alfons Baiker
ChemCatChem, May 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300172. Read article.

A parting of the waves: A prototype microflow system for the continuous recycling of homogeneous catalysts through liquid/liquid phase separation was developed and its effectiveness demonstrated in a challenging palladium-catalyzed hydroxylation reaction. The unmodified catalyst is recycled under standard reaction conditions by using a combination of chemical and engineering methods.

[Communication]
Pengfei Li, Jason S. Moore , Klavs F. Jensen
ChemCatChem, May 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300054. Read article.

Boomerang! It keeps coming back! The reversible transfer of Pd species between water (reaction medium) and polystyrene (polymer support) was confirmed for Suzuki coupling reaction of aryl chloride with arylboronic acid in the presence of tetrabutylammonium bromide. No clear change in particle size was observed by TEM after re-stabilization of the Pd species on linear polystyrene.

[Communication]
Atsushi Ohtaka, Erina Sakaguchi, Tomohiro Yamaguchi, Go Hamasaka, Yasuhiro Uozumi, Osamu Shimomura, Ryôki Nomura
ChemCatChem, May 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300204. Read article.

All coated up: Platinum nanoparticles loaded on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) are coated with pyridine-containing polybenzimidazole (PyPBI). Interestingly, although a slight decrease in the accessibility of methanol is observed after coating, the methanol oxidation activity of Pt dramatically improves after coating with PyPBI.

[Communication]
Tsuyohiko Fujigaya, Minoru Okamoto, Kazuya Matsumoto, Kenji Kaneko, Naotoshi Nakashima
ChemCatChem, May 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300157. Read article.

Some metals do it better: Polycrystalline platinum electrodes are modified with p-block elements and their abilities for nitrate reduction to volatile nitrogen oxides in perchloric and sulfuric acid solutions investigated. Online electrochemical mass spectrometry is used to detect volatile products on the electrode surface and DFT calculations give insight into the nature of the promoting action.

[Full Paper]
Jian Yang, Federico Calle-Vallejo, Matteo Duca, Marc T. M. Koper
ChemCatChem, May 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300075. Read article.

Catalysis, reloaded: At the 46th annual meeting of the German Catalysis Society, hosted by DECHEMA, 300 researchers presented innovative catalytic systems and concepts, with overlaps between homogeneous, heterogeneous, and biocatalysis described in many cases. The conference, attended by over 500 participants, was also an excellent forum for nano-, electro-, and photocatalysis, with a strong industrial focus.

[Conference Report]
Marc Armbrüster, Malte Behrens, Barthel Engendahl, Mehtap Oezaslan, Marcus Rose, Christoph Sprung
ChemCatChem, May 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300310. Read article.

Charge transport matters: The gas-phase response of the electrical conductivity, measured contact-free with the in situ microwave cavity perturbation technique, is studied for vanadium(III), (IV), and (V) phosphorus oxide catalysts under selective n-butane oxidation conditions. The deduced surface–bulk charge transport properties of the samples provide a fingerprint for the activity and selectivity in the demanding selective oxidation that requires a 14 e⁻ transfer per catalytic cycle.

[Full Paper]
Maik Eichelbaum, Robert Glaum, Michael Hävecker, Knut Wittich, Christian Heine, Heiner Schwarz, Cornelia-Katharina Dobner, Cathrin Welker-Nieuwoudt, Annette Trunschke, Robert Schlögl
ChemCatChem, May 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200953. Read article.

Every mechanism should have a silver lining: Ethanol is selectively converted into acetaldehyde over Ag supported on silica. The Ag particles and SiOH groups of silica act in a complementary manner in a concerted mechanism, which is proposed based on in situ FTIR spectroscopic studies and kinetic experiments with specifically deuterated ethanol. The proposed mechanism shows the way for the design of efficient supported Ag catalysts.

[Full Paper]
Vitaly L. Sushkevich, Irina I. Ivanova, Esben Taarning
ChemCatChem, May 13, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300033. Read article.

And they were all yellow: The sulfur-promoted formation of conjugated linoleic acid isomers during the combined hydrogenation and directed isomerization of safflower oil can be explained mechanistically through the preferable formation of the more nucleophilic rhodium sulfide (Rh-SH) over that of the hydride (Rh-H). The Rh-SH species could induce more easily the addition and elimination steps for the double-bond conjugation of linoleic acid.

[Full Paper]
Nasima Chorfa, Safia Hamoudi, Joseph Arul, Khaled Belkacemi
ChemCatChem, May 13, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200895. Read article.

Skinnier than a supermodel: There will be an optimal size for ultrathin alloyed nanowires (NWs) as electrocatalysts. The ultrathin size of the NWs maximizes the surface area and utilization of precious metals, thereby lowering the precious metals loading and reducing the cost while increasing their electroactivity and stability.

[Highlight]
Hui-Hui Li, Chun-Hua Cui, Shu-Hong Yu
ChemCatChem, May 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300155. Read article.

In the same boat: Tandem rearrangement/N-alkylation reactions in the presence of a Ru/Ir dual-catalyst system affords the desired N-alkylated amines in good-to-excellent yields with no intermediate amides or over-alkylated N,N-dialkylated amides. This environmentally friendly tandem reaction employs readily available starting materials, affords excellent selectivities for the N-alkylated amides, and shows high atom efficiency.

[Communication]
Feng Li, Panpan Qu, Juan Ma, Xiaoyuan Zou, Chunlou Sun
ChemCatChem, May 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300140. Read article.

Over the wire and back again: The reversible hydrogenation–oxidative dehydrogenation of quinolines is reported by using Pt nanowire (NW) as the catalyst under mild reaction conditions. Pt NW shows high activity and selectivity in the hydrogenation of quinolines under H₂ pressure (1 bar=100 kPa), and these hydrogenation products can be easily oxidized under the same conditions in an atmosphere of oxygen (1 bar) or in air.

[Communication]
Danhua Ge, Lei Hu, Jiaqing Wang, Xingming Li, Fenqiang Qi, Jianmei Lu, Xueqin Cao, Hongwei Gu
ChemCatChem, May 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300136. Read article.

The silica sphere is your oyster: Water-dispersible ultra-small clusters of Pd are synthesized by using a quaternary ammonium thiol as the protecting ligand. Further calcination and removal of organics leads to nanoreactors with individual Pd particles encapsulated within porous silica spheres that exhibit excellent catalytic activity and thermal stability.

[Full Paper]
Anupam Samanta, R. Nandini Devi
ChemCatChem, May 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200908. Read article.

Be water my friend: A new family of chiral diarylprolinol-type organocatalysts with improved performances in conjugate addition reactions in water and proceeding under the iminium activation manifold were studied. Once the optimized catalyst structure had been found, it proved its efficiency in the catalytic enantioselective cyclopropanation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes using water as the only reaction medium.

[Full Paper]
Jose I. Martínez, Efraim Reyes, Uxue Uria, Luisa Carrillo, Jose L. Vicario
ChemCatChem, May 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300097. Read article.

Best director: The direct synthesis of phenol from benzene and O₂ was performed with 78–94 % selectivity on Pt/β and Pt-Re/ZSM-5 catalysts, regulated by NH₃ (See figure, (1)). An alternating process (see figure, (2)-1 and (2)-2) afforded the selective synthesis of phenol with 83–99.8 % selectivity, whilst minimizing the consumption of NH₃.

[Communication]
Linsheng Wang, Sadaaki Yamamoto, Sachin Malwadkar, Shin-ichi Nagamatsu, Takehiko Sasaki, Kenichiro Hayashizaki, Mizuki Tada, Yasuhiro Iwasawa
ChemCatChem, May 03, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300166. Read article.

The sweet smell of success: Bicyclic monoterpenes, cheap biomass-based substrates available from coniferous trees, can be transformed into valuable fragrance compounds through an efficient tandem catalytic process by using a Rh catalyst and environmentally friendly ethanol as a solvent.

[Full Paper]
Marina C. de Freitas, Camila G. Vieira, Eduardo N. dos Santos, Elena V. Gusevskaya
ChemCatChem, May 03, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200948. Read article.

I feel it in my dendrimers... Bimetallic Pt-Ni dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs) with different Pt/Ni ratios are synthesized through the co-complexation of Pt²⁺ and Ni²⁺ cations to the internal tertiary amine of the dendrimer followed by coreduction by NaBH₄. The Pt-Ni DENs show high catalytic activities in hydrous hydrazine decomposition and ammonia borane hydrolysis.

[Full Paper]
Kengo Aranishi, Ashish Kumar Singh, Qiang Xu
ChemCatChem, May 03, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300143. Read article.

Caps off to gold: High selectivities (>95 %) are obtained if Pd nanoparticles are covered with an organic capping agent, the removal of which during the reaction leads to a decrease in selectivity. With Au, the intrinsic reaction rate decreases but selectivity is better after the removal of the capping agent. The presence of Au creates small Pd terraces fully covered with chemisorbed O₂; H₂O₂ synthesis occurs at the perimeter of these terraces.

[Full Paper]
S. Abate, M. Freni, R. Arrigo, M. E. Schuster, S. Perathoner, G. Centi
ChemCatChem, May 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200914. Read article.

Anchored to DNA: Covalent anchoring of catalytically active complexes to DNA is achieved through a tethered cisplatin moiety. The resulting DNA-based catalysts give good enantiomeric excess values in the catalyzed Diels–Alder and Friedel–Crafts alkylation reactions.

[Communication]
Lorina Gjonaj, Gerard Roelfes
ChemCatChem, May 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300082. Read article.

As good as it gets: Pd(OAc)₂ is a highly efficient catalyst for the transformation of primary azides into nitriles or imines under neutral, technical-grade conditions, with unprecedented selectivities.

[Communication]
Laura Martínez-Sarti, Silvia Díez-González
ChemCatChem, May 01, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300064. Read article.

Rich in more ways than one: High surface area –CO₂H rich organic polymer have been designed, which acts as an excellent carbocatalyst in a series of indole 3-substitution reactions at room temperature.

[Communication]
Arindam Modak, John Mondal, Asim Bhaumik
ChemCatChem, May 01, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300009. Read article.

Trapped oil: Candida antarctica lipase A is immobilized on oil-filled spherical silica nanoparticles with different silica shell structures through an anionic surfactant-induced self-assembly approach (see scheme) with ethanol as a cosolvent. The entrapped enzymes mostly retain their activities and exhibit recyclability and thermal and chemical stability, depending on the thickness and pore characteristics of the silica shells. TEOS=Tetraethoxyorthosilicate, APTES=3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane.

[Full Paper]
Yasutaka Kuwahara, Takato Yamanishi, Takashi Kamegawa, Kohsuke Mori, Hiromi Yamashita
ChemCatChem, Apr 29, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300072. Read article.

A clear view in a dark field: The annular dark-field imaging mode and electron energy-loss spectroscopy were used to provide directly interpretable imaging and chemical analysis of GaPd₂ nanocatalysts, revealing intricacies of the “nano-sized” intermetallic compound that are intriguing from both a crystallographic and catalytic perspective.

[Full Paper]
Rowan Leary, Francisco de la Peña, Jonathan S. Barnard, Yuan Luo, Marc Armbrüster, John Meurig Thomas, Paul A. Midgley
ChemCatChem, Apr 29, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300029. Read article.

Ag/AgBr-grafted graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) was constructed by in situ photoreduction of AgBr/g-C₃N₄ hybrid prepared by using the deposition-precipitation method. Compared with bare g-C₃N₄ and Ag/AgBr nanoparticles, a 28-fold and 6-fold enhancement in the degradation rate toward rhodamine B is observed over the Ag/AgBr/g-C₃N₄ hybrid under visible light irradiation, respectively. This study provides new insight into the development of highly efficient and stable g-C₃N₄-based plasmonic photocatalysts and facilitates their practical applications in environmental issues.

Coming soon.

Half a century, take a bow to the pavilion: Over the past 50 years or so, electron microscopy has become an invaluable technique for the study of solid catalysts. We recount some of the most important developments, including early high-resolution studies, insights obtained using aberration-corrected optics, recent advances in electron tomography, time-resolved electron microscopy, and precession electron diffraction.

[Essay]
John Meurig Thomas, Caterina Ducati, Rowan Leary, Paul A. Midgley
ChemCatChem, Apr 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200883. Read article.

Ten years ago, it was reported that hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) from defatted almond meal shows catalytic promiscuity in the addition of cyanide to imines. Here we provide experimental evidence that this addition occurs in a non-enzymatic reaction, and two structurally different HNLs do not catalyse this reaction.

Received November 08, 2012, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200804

Strategic move: Isatin as a core structure has inspired the development of useful catalytic strategies to give access to interesting molecular architectures with biological activity.

[Minireview]
Somayeh Mohammadi, Roghayeh Heiran, Raquel P. Herrera, Eugenia Marqués-López
ChemCatChem, Apr 24, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300050. Read article.

No ligand, no problem: Diarylpyrroles are synthesized through palladium-catalyzed CH activation and arylation in tetrabutylammonium acetate as an ionic solvent, allowing for a ligand-free catalysis with simple palladium salts or polyvinylpyrrolidone-stabilized palladium nanoparticles.

[Full Paper]
Peter Ehlers, Andranik Petrosyan, Jens Baumgard, Stefan Jopp, Norbert Steinfeld, Tariel V. Ghochikyan, Ashot S. Saghyan, Christine Fischer, Peter Langer
ChemCatChem, Apr 24, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300099. Read article.

New insights into familiar supports: We investigate a range of commercially available γ-Al₂O₃ powders by using a combination of integrated experimental techniques such as XRD, neutron powder diffraction, and TEM. Most of the γ-Al₂O₃ powders studied comprised a significant proportion of cubeoctahedral nanoparticles containing numerous steps on the {1 1 1}-type aluminum cation-rich surface facets.

[Full Paper]
Yahaya Rozita, Rik Brydson, Tim P. Comyn, Andrew J. Scott, Chris Hammond, Andy Brown, Sandra Chauruka, Ali Hassanpour, Neil P. Young, Angus I. Kirkland, Hidetaka Sawada, Ron I. Smith
ChemCatChem, Apr 24, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200880. Read article.

Looking for favors: The thermodynamically favorable asymmetric amination of alkyl ketones was catalyzed by ω-transaminase with racemic arylalkylamines as an amine donor, thus affording enantiopure alkylamines and arylalkylamines of opposite chirality.

[Communication]
Eul-Soo Park, M. Shaheer Malik, Joo-Young Dong, Jong-Shik Shin
ChemCatChem, Apr 22, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300052. Read article.

Catalytic MOF: A highly porous metal–organic framework Cu₂(BDC)₂(DABCO) (H₂BDC=1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, DABCO=1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane) was synthesized and used as an efficient recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for the coupling reaction of phenols with nitroarenes to form diaryl ethers without using a ligand.

[Full Paper]
Nam T. S. Phan, Tung T. Nguyen, Vu T. Nguyen, Khoa D. Nguyen
ChemCatChem, Apr 22, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300032. Read article.

Electrocatalytic reduction: The alkynyl-substituted Re^I complex [Re(5,5'-bisphenylethynyl-2,2'-bipyridyl)(CO)₃Cl] was immobilized by electropolymerization onto a Pt-plate electrode. The polymerized film exhibited electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of CO₂ to CO.

[Full Paper]
Engelbert Portenkirchner, Jacek Gasiorowski, Kerstin Oppelt, Stefanie Schlager, Clemens Schwarzinger, Helmut Neugebauer, Günther Knör, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci
ChemCatChem, Apr 19, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200904. Read article.

Going against tradition: Uniformly distributed Pd nanoparticles on imidazolium-ionic-liquid-modified Al₂O₃ surfaces are prepared by a top down approach by using a new sputtering chamber. The hydrogenation of 1,3-cyclohexadiene is used to probe the surface properties of these new Pd nanoparticles.

[Full Paper]
Leandro Luza, Aitor Gual, Dario Eberhardt, Sérgio R. Teixeira, Sandra S. X. Chiaro, Jairton Dupont
ChemCatChem, Apr 18, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300123. Read article.

Very supportive: An active nickel-oxide-supported nano-palladium catalyst, Pd/NiO-M, promotes the selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatic compounds into anilines under ambient conditions. The catalyst was recovered and reused without deactivation.

[Communication]
Huimin Yang, Xinjiang Cui, Youquan Deng, Feng Shi
ChemCatChem, Apr 18, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300039. Read article.

Chiral ligands with diverse stereogenic centers from diastereomeric combinations of aminoalcohol functionalities with (R)- and (S)-1,1-binaphthol are prepared. In asymmetric ring-opening reactions, catalytically active Ti complexes are generated in situ in the presence of water. syn-beta-Amino alcohols of meso-stilbene oxide with (1S,2S) and (1R,2R) configuration are produced in excellent yields (>98 %) and enantioselectivities (ee>99 %) at room temperature.

[Full Paper]
Manish Kumar, Rukhsana I. Kureshy, Debashis Ghosh, Noor-ul H. Khan, Sayed H. R. Abdi, Hari C. Bajaj
ChemCatChem, Apr 18, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200912. Read article.

Let’s cooperate! Cooperative bimetallic catalysis plays an important role in bioenzymatic conversions, and numerous examples are reported in (bio)inorganic and organic chemistry. In organometallic chemistry, this type of catalysis is rare. Here, the concept of cooperative binuclear substrate activation in hydrogenation and hydroformylation reactions is discussed.

[Minireview]
Dennis G. H. Hetterscheid, Samir H. Chikkali, Bas de Bruin, Joost N. H. Reek
ChemCatChem, Apr 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300092. Read article.

Let there be hydrogen: The collection of photogenerated charge carriers on different photocatalytic surfaces enhances the activity of heterojunction-based Gd₂Ti₂O₇/In₂O₃ composites for hydrogen production.

[Full Paper]
Amtul Nashim , Satyabadi Martha, K. M. Parida 
ChemCatChem, Apr 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300037. Read article.

Hi ho silver lining: Dealloyed nanoporous silver showed high activity and selectivity for the partial oxidation of MeOH into formaldehyde and of several primary and secondary aliphatic alcohols into their corresponding aldehydes or ketones.

[Communication]
Zhiwen Li, Junling Xu, Xiaohu Gu, Kang Wang, Wenhui Wang, Xiaomei Zhang, Zhonghua Zhang, Yi Ding
ChemCatChem, Apr 16, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200862. Read article.

The electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate on platinum was studied in the presence of a large variety of p-block metal promoters, in perchloric and sulfuric acidic media. Tin is the most active promoter, yielding volatile reaction products such as nitrous oxide and nitric oxide. Density functional theory calculations indicate that tin hydroxide adsorbed on the platinum surface enhances the nitrate adsorption and thereby increases the reduction activity.

Received January 28, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200616

Acting up with nitriles: A monovacant lacunary silicotungstate, TBA₄[α-H₄SiW₁₁O₃₉] (I) could act as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for dehydration of primary amides. Various kinds of primary amides, including benzylic, double bond-containing, heteroaromatic, and aliphatic could be converted into the corresponding nitriles in moderate to excellent yields.

[Communication]
Shintaro Itagaki, Keigo Kamata, Kazuya Yamaguchi, Noritaka Mizuno
ChemCatChem, Apr 15, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300063. Read article.

Reducing to the essential: The synthesis of carbon nanotube-supported α-MoC and β-Mo₂C nanoparticles can be controlled by the carburization conditions used. The effects of molybdenum loading, heating rate of carburization, and carburization atmosphere on the catalytic performance of resulting molybdenum carbide catalysts in the steam reforming of methanol are discussed.

[Full Paper]
Benjamin Frank, Klaus Friedel, Frank Girgsdies, Xing Huang, Robert Schlögl, Annette Trunschke
ChemCatChem, Apr 15, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300010. Read article.

From pine resin to catalyst: The easily available rosin diterpene abietic acid has been transformed into a unique class of bifunctional thiourea catalysts that can also incorporate further substituents, thereby enabling either Lewis base or enamine activation modes. Their application in a wide range of stereoselective transformations has revealed the positive effect of this chiral and rigid skeleton on the catalytic performance of these hybrid thioureas.

[Review]
Senthil Narayanaperumal, Daniel G. Rivera, Rodrigo C. Silva, Márcio W. Paixão
ChemCatChem, Apr 15, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200936. Read article.

Great expectations for microreactors: We highlight the importance of on-chip catalytic microreactors for catalysis research. New approaches to the fabrication of on-chip catalytic microreactors and their integration with multifunctional components are introduced. It is believed that on-chip catalytic microreactors could become a highly efficient experimental platform for modern catalysis.

[Concept]
Bin-Bin Xu, Yong-Lai Zhang, Shu Wei, Hong Ding, Hong-Bo Sun
ChemCatChem, Apr 15, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200863. Read article.

Ship in a Bottle: The confined synthesis of binary anisotropic nanoparticle catalysts within a hollow support allows for the creation of highly complex new catalyst architectures.

[Highlight]
James Goebl, Yadong Yin
ChemCatChem, Apr 15, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300129. Read article.

Iron-clad results: The effect of nanoparticle size on the kinetics of iron carbidization on silica-supported catalysts was studied by using an in situ magnetic method combined with simultaneous analysis of the reaction products. The activation energy of carbide formation in both CO and syngas grew with a decrease in the particle size of iron: Smaller iron carbide particles (d=9 nm) appear to be less stable than their larger counterparts.

[Communication]
Petr A. Chernavskii, Vladimir I. Zaikovskii, Galina V. Pankina, Andrei Y. Khodakov
ChemCatChem, Apr 15, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200960. Read article.

Salen away to sea: A convenient approach to the asymmetric Strecker reaction was established by synthesizing chiral, mono- and dinuclear, macrocyclic Mn^III–salen complexes possessing achiral and chiral linkers. These complexes showed very good catalytic ability for the enantioselevtive Strecker reaction of aldimines.

[Full Paper]
S. Saravanan, Noor-ul H. Khan, Prasanta K. Bera, Rukhsana I. Kureshy, Sayed H. R. Abdi, Prathibha Kumari, Hari C. Bajaj
ChemCatChem, Apr 12, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200700. Read article.

Blowing out of disproportion: Alcohol dehydrogenases were found to catalyze a bio-Cannizzaro-type reaction. The disproportionation of various aldehydes into their corresponding alcohols and carboxylic acids was achieved in a redox-neutral process. The asymmetric variant proceeded with high stereoselectivities.

[Communication]
Christiane Wuensch, Horst Lechner, Silvia M. Glueck, Klaus Zangger, Mélanie Hall, Kurt Faber
ChemCatChem, Apr 12, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300028. Read article.

[Re]ad all about it: The first examples of the rhenium-catalyzed dehydrogenative formation of amides and esters with the highly active ReH₅(triphos) complex is demonstrated. The addition of a tertiary amine additive improves the selectivity and the stability of the catalyst in the formation of esters from primary alcohols.

[Communication]
P. Philipp M. Schleker, Roman Honeker, Jürgen Klankermayer, Walter Leitner
ChemCatChem, Apr 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200942. Read article.

Tetherball: A heterogeneous, mesoporous silica-tethered iridium catalyst (Ir-PN/SBA-15) containing a bidentate iminophosphine ligand is synthesized for the hydrogenation of CO₂ to formic acid in aqueous solution. This new recyclable catalyst exhibits high activities to formic acid production under mild conditions [60 °C, 4.0 MPa total pressure (H₂/CO₂=1:1)].

[Communication]
Zheng Xu, Nicholas D. McNamara, Gregory T. Neumann, William F. Schneider, Jason C. Hicks
ChemCatChem, Apr 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200839. Read article.

Doping for better performance: Vanadium ions substituted into the framework of octahedral molecular sieve manganese oxide nanomaterials through a simple reflux method significantly improved the catalytic activity for total and preferential carbon monoxide oxidation.

[Full Paper]
Homer C. Genuino, Yongtao Meng, Dayton T. Horvath, Chung-Hao Kuo, Mohammad S. Seraji, Aimee M. Morey, Raymond L. Joesten, Steven L. Suib
ChemCatChem, Apr 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300005. Read article.

Seawater and biorefineries: Many biorefinery-oriented methods can be performed in seawater, which enables the use of nonpotable water resources for biomass (e.g., algae) valorization. Provided that adequate waste(sea)water treatments are implemented, the use of seawater may enable the local delivery of chemicals and biofuels for coastal regions.

[Concept]
Pablo Domínguez de María
ChemCatChem, Apr 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200877. Read article.

Foam party: A new method is reported for the immobilization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) onto silicon carbide foam to afford a CNT/SiC monolith catalyst for sustainable chemistry applications. The as-synthesized monolith displayed good stability and high catalytic performance in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of 1-butene into butadiene.

[Communication]
Hua Yuan, Zhenhua Sun, Hongyang Liu, Bingsen Zhang, Chunlin Chen, Haihua Wang, Zhenming Yang, Jinsong Zhang, Fei Wei, Dang Sheng Su
ChemCatChem, Apr 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200758. Read article.

A phase-transfer featured, imidazolium-based, organic–inorganic hybrid silica as a functional platform, is used to develop a bifunctionalized heterogeneous catalyst that displays comparable or higher catalytic activity and enantioselectivity than its homogeneous counterpart in asymmetric transformations. This hybrid silica also boosts asymmetric catalysis and can be recovered conveniently and reused without affecting its catalytic efficiency.

[Full Paper]
Daquan Xia, Tanyu Cheng, Wei Xiao, Ketang Liu, Zhaoliang Wang, Guohua Liu, Hexing Li, Wei Wang
ChemCatChem, Apr 10, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200954. Read article.

Illuminating photocatalysis: Exposing cuprous oxide to light in an aqueous environment causes reduction to metallic copper. Using a combination of imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy new insight into the reduction mechanism has been obtained.

[Full Paper]
Filippo Cavalca, Anders B. Laursen, Jakob B. Wagner, Christian D. Damsgaard, Ib Chorkendorff, Thomas W. Hansen
ChemCatChem, Apr 10, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200887. Read article.

Complexity at its best! This review summarizes the latest advances in the field of allenes for their applications as substrates in palladium-catalyzed reactions. The progress in the field of allene chemistry is amazing and covers a plethora of products ranging from simple acyclic compounds to complex molecule architectures and natural products.

[Review]
Tilman Lechel, Fabian Pfrengle, Hans-Ulrich Reissig, Reinhold Zimmer
ChemCatChem, Apr 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200875. Read article.

Reaction in a cage: 2nd generation Hoveyda–Grubbs catalyst was effectively encapsulated in the nanocages of a mesoporous material SBA-1 through a simple post-reduction of the pore size. This solid catalyst showed an activity comparable to its homogeneous counterpart in olefin metathesis reaction and more sensitive temperature effects than the homogeneous counterpart. This catalyst can be recycled seven times without significant Ru leaching.

[Full Paper]
Hengquan Yang, Zhancheng Ma, Ting Zhou, Wenjuan Zhang, Jianbin Chao, Yong Qin
ChemCatChem, Apr 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300021. Read article.

Caught in an acid trap! Zeolites with moderate acidity are demonstrated to be versatile and reusable solid-acid catalysts for the transformation of biomass derived carbohydrates to alkyl levulinates in alcohol solvents. In short-chained alcohols it proved possible to obtain significantly higher yields of alkyl levulinates, than what is achievable of levulinic acid in analogous reactions performed in water.

[Communication]
Shumugavel Saravanamurugan, Anders Riisager
ChemCatChem, Apr 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300006. Read article.

3 D architecture: We report the preparation and catalytic activity of 3 D mesoporous gallosilicate with Ia3d symmetry (GaKIT-6) and different gallium content, which show a high activity even at reaction temperature as low as 313 K, as well as a high benzyl chloride (BC) conversion and diphenylmethane (DPM) selectivity. The GaKIT-6 catalysts are found to be not only highly active but also stable and recyclable.

[Full Paper]
Chokkalingam Anand, Stalin Joseph, Geoffrey Lawrence, Dattatray S. Dhawale, Md. Abdul Wahab, Jin-Ho Choy, Ajayan Vinu
ChemCatChem, Apr 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200922. Read article.

Keep it simple: An efficient Ru catalyst constructed from simple and commercially available triphenylphosphane and enantiopure (1S,1'S)-1,1'-biisoindoline (BIDN) was applied to the asymmetric hydrogenation of aromatic ketones. A range of simple aromatic ketones could be hydrogenated with good to excellent enantioselectivities (up to 95 % ee).

[Full Paper]
Han Zhou, Hanmin Huang
ChemCatChem, Apr 08, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300080. Read article.

Microwaves assist everything! A facile microwave-assisted synthesis route for the preparation of PtRu/carbon nanotube electrocatalysts is presented, in which an ethanol/water mixture is used as a solvent/reducing agent. The prepared catalysts are highly active in methanol electrooxidation. After reduction at higher temperatures, the degree of alloying and catalyst stability are enhanced.

[Full Paper]
Abu Bakr Ahmed Amine Nassr, Michael Bron
ChemCatChem, Apr 08, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200742. Read article.

Enhanced catalysis! Urea-unfolded wild-type cytochrome c and its variants immobilized on kaolinite show peroxidase activity that is significantly higher than that of the folded wild-type protein. The accessibility of the substrate to the metal center and the influence of strategic amino acidic residues on the surface of the protein are discussed. This approach sheds light on the factors affecting the catalytic activity of a new versatile biocatalytic interface.

[Communication]
Elena Castellini, Carlo Augusto Bortolotti, Giulia Di Rocco, Fabrizio Bernini, Antonio Ranieri
ChemCatChem, Apr 05, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200876. Read article.

Direct and effective: the asymmetric catalytic 1,5-hydride transfer/cyclization, internal redox process, has recently been reported. This transformation is an effective method to functionalization of sp³-C-H bond adjacent to heteroatom.

[Highlight]
Min Wang
ChemCatChem, Apr 05, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200692. Read article.

It's all your fault! Microporous titanosilicate ETS-10 crystals have been analyzed by advanced electron microscopy techniques. With the last generation of spherical aberration corrected electron microscopes, truly atomic resolution images have been recorded. Owing to the extremely high-resolution images that have been obtained, the multiple defects (stacking faults, lack of porosity and “double-pores”) present in this type of material can be analyzed in great detail.

[Communication]
Alvaro Mayoral, Joaquin Coronas, Clara Casado, Carlos Tellez, Isabel Díaz
ChemCatChem, Apr 04, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300045. Read article.

Activated carbon: Thermally modified carbon can be activated by KOH treatment and the quantity of the surface groups and the textural properties can be controlled by changing the treatment conditions, which improved the dispersion of Ru particles. The difference in the amount of surface functional groups and the size of Ru particles affected the catalytic activity of Ru catalysts in the synthesis of ammonia.

[Full Paper]
Bingyu Lin, Kemei Wei, Jun Ni, Jianxin Lin
ChemCatChem, Apr 04, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200889. Read article.

Fuel for thought: New active and selective catalyst compositions for hydrogenation of CO₂ to mainly fuel-type higher hydrocarbons were developed by application of an evolutionary strategy. A detailed study of the reaction conditions revealed that modified Fe catalysts supported on TiO₂ resulted in high selectivities even at high CO₂ conversions.

[Full Paper]
Uwe Rodemerck, Martin Holena, Edmund Wagner, Quido Smejkal, Axel Barkschat, Manfred Baerns
ChemCatChem, Apr 04, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200879. Read article.

Flex that backbone! An SBA-15-supported rhodium–N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalytic complex shows good activity and stability in hydrogenation reactions. Compared to conventional immobilized unsaturated NHC carbene complexes, Rh-NHC is connected to the SBA-15 surface by a linker originating from the backbone of the unsaturated NHC ligand. The catalyst structure maintains two unchanged “wing-tip” ligands on the supported NHC.

[Full Paper]
Peng Li, Wolfgang A. Herrmann, Fritz E. Kühn
ChemCatChem, Apr 03, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200837. Read article.

The sun has got his hat on! A simple, robust and highly active nickel complex catalyst was reported for photo-generation of hydrogen. The Ni catalyst modified CdSe nanocrystal system achieved a benchmark turnover frequency of >600 000 and extraordinary longevity of 360 h.

[Highlight]
Gongming Wang, Yat Li
ChemCatChem, Apr 03, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300034. Read article.

Rich man, pore man: A facile and universal route to mesoporous zeolite TS-1 (MTS-1) is reported. Compared with mesoporous-free TS-1, the MTS-1 zeolite shows extraordinarily catalytic activity and highly controllable chemoselectivity for the oxidation of sulfides into sulfoxides or sulfones. Based on the catalytic data, the Ti-hydroperoxo (η²) group is proposed to be the active site for the oxidation of sulfides into sulfoxides and sulfones.

[Communication]
Zhenzhen Kang, Guoyong Fang, Qingping Ke, Jianbo Hu, Tiandi Tang
ChemCatChem, Apr 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300084. Read article.

The lid dictates: An aminomutase was converted into an ammonia lyase by a rational single-point mutation that destabilizes the closed conformation of the lid covering the active site. The resulting aromatic β-amino acid converting lyase exhibited significantly increased reaction rates (44-fold) and was applied in a preparative-scale asymmetric amination reaction and in kinetic resolution for the production of β-phenylalanine.

[Full Paper]
Sebastian Bartsch, Gjalt G. Wybenga, Maaike Jansen, Matthew M. Heberling, Bian Wu, Bauke W. Dijkstra, Dick B. Janssen
ChemCatChem, Apr 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200871. Read article.

A great suC=Cess: The oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethane is a process that enables the production of ethene with high selectivities. Different catalysts and reactor configurations have been developed for this process. This Review focuses on the mechanistic aspects of heterogeneously catalyzed ODH reactions and the main features and common principles of this reaction are discussed.

[Review]
Christian A. Gärtner, André C. van Veen, Johannes A. Lercher
ChemCatChem, Apr 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200966. Read article.

Nature’s metals: For a wide range of catalytic transformations, the nature of the catalyst has to be considered when evaluating the necessary steps to take academic research to industrial application. Herein we survey state of the art progress in sustainable metal catalysis, that is, catalytic reactions performed with inexpensive biorelevant metals such as B, Mg, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo, Se, Si, and W.

[Review]
Michael S. Holzwarth, Bernd Plietker
ChemCatChem, Mar 28, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200592. Read article.

Put your Trost in this reaction: The first catalytic asymmetric Tsuji–Trost reaction via allylic C-H activation was realized using a new class of chiral phosphoramidite ligands. This work represents a considerable breakthrough in palladium catalyzed asymmetric allylic C-H alkylations.

[Highlight]
Guihua Chen, Kang Chen, Zhang-Jie Shi
ChemCatChem, Mar 28, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300015. Read article.

Alkaline support: The hydrodeoxygenation of aliphatic ketones is studied in a fixed-bed reactor by using cyclohexanone as a model substrate. Alkali-treated Ni/HZSM-5 exhibits excellent performance for this reaction.

[Full Paper]
Xiangjin Kong, Weichi Lai, Jun Tian, Yang Li, Xilong Yan, Ligong Chen
ChemCatChem, Mar 28, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200824. Read article.

N,O problem: An asymmetric catalytic one-pot N,O- and O,O-acetalization cascade is presented. This strategy is based on catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition and subsequent acid-catalyzed acetal formation that allows efficient and fast construction of functionalized dioxabicyclo- and oxaazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane structures that are important motifs in several natural products and pharmaceutically interesting compounds.

[Communication]
M. Fatih Polat, Lara Hettmanczyk, Wei Zhang, Zoltan Szabo, Johan Franzén
ChemCatChem, Mar 28, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200860. Read article.

The synthesis of adipic acid through aerobic oxidative cleavage of trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol is investigated under basic and acid conditions. In the former case, supported Ru(OH)₃ catalysts are active but poorly selective, owing to side reactions starting from the key reaction intermediate 1,2-cyclohexanedione. Under acidic conditions, Keggin polyoxometalates are selective to adipic acid, but this then reacts with the unconverted reactant to yield esters.

[Full Paper]
Elena Rozhko, Katerina Raabova, Francesco Macchia, Andrea Malmusi, Paolo Righi, Pasquale Accorinti, Stefano Alini, Pierpaolo Babini, Giuseppina Cerrato, Maela Manzoli, Fabrizio Cavani
ChemCatChem, Mar 27, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200825. Read article.

Gold goes upside down: A highly active and stable gold catalyst is generated by the deposition of metal oxide particles on a monolithic, high-surface area gold support. The catalyst combines exceptional activity for CO oxidation and NO reduction at low temperatures and unprecedented stability at several hundred degrees Celsius. This novel catalyst design opens up applications such as in exhaust gas control.

[Full Paper]
Andre Wichmann, Arne Wittstock, Kristian Frank, Monika M. Biener, Björn Neumann, Lutz Mädler, Jürgen Biener, Andreas Rosenauer, Marcus Bäumer
ChemCatChem, Mar 27, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200759. Read article.

Two strong arms to hold the catalyst: (O,O) and (O,N)-chelate ruthenium(II) complexes obtained from kojic acid or glycine are efficient catalysts for the (hetero)arylation of C_sp²-H bonds if associated to potassium pivalate. Moreover, the catalysts operate in water

[Communication]
Keisham S. Singh, Pierre H. Dixneuf
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300031. Read article.

Good news for doping: Ce cations can be doped into the lattice of SnO₂ to form solid-solution structures, which results in catalysts with improved activity and stability. However, La and Y cations react with SnO₂ to form very stable pyrochlores, Sn₂La₂O₇ and Sn₂Y₂O₇, which have a decreased catalytic activity.

[Full Paper]
Xianglan Xu, Rongbin Zhang, Xianrong Zeng, Xue Han, Yucheng Li, Yang Liu, Xiang Wang
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200760. Read article.

Deeply buried but very vivid: An unprecedented combination of high activity, stability, selectivity, and Lewis acidity as well as mechanistic insight is provided by the gold bistriflimide complex of an IPr** N-heterocyclic carbene ancillary ligand with its record buried volume.

[Full Paper]
Simone G. Weber, David Zahner, Frank Rominger, Bernd F. Straub
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200944. Read article.

A single pass to the goal: A single-pass C₃H₆+C₃H₇X yield above 80 % was achieved in propane oxidative dehydrogenation using bromine and iodine together as oxidants. This dual-halogen process is promising for the synthesis of many other unsaturated hydrocarbons, including olefins, diolefins, and aromatics.

[Full Paper]
Kunlun Ding, Horia Metiu, Galen D. Stucky
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200913. Read article.

A new sensation in direct arylation: In the presence of KOAc, the Pd-catalyzed direct heteroarylation of 2- or 4-bromobenzamides with heteroarenes proceeds without the formation of C-N or C-C bonds by the coupling of two bromobenzamides. With 4-bromobenzamides, both primary and tertiary amides can be employed, whereas only tertiary 2-bromobenzamides were reactive. The nature of the heteroarene had a moderate influence on the reaction. DMAc=N,N-dimethylacetamide.

[Full Paper]
Lu Chen, Christian Bruneau, Pierre H. Dixneuf, Henri Doucet
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200867. Read article.

The cycloisomerization of 1,5-enynes with hydroxyl functions at their propargylic positions was investigated by using NHC-based platinacyclic phosphoramidite complexes as the chiral catalysts. The (R)-Monophos complexes display good catalytic activity in mild conditions. They afford the desired bicyclo[3.1.0]hexan-3-ones in up to 81 % ee from enynes with aryl-substituted alkyne functions.

[Full Paper]
Yang Zhang, Hélène Jullien, Delphine Brissy, Pascal Retailleau, Arnaud Voituriez, Angela Marinetti
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200743. Read article.

Environmentally benign bio-catalysts: The role of a poly-electrolyte coating in the immobilisation of peroxidases was studied. Efficient yields for the degradation of several dyes were obtained with H₂O₂ in the presence of different redox mediators. Generally, azo dyes were degraded with higher yields.

[Full Paper]
Raffaele Saladino, Melissa Guazzaroni, Claudia Crestini, Marcello Crucianelli
ChemCatChem, Mar 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200660. Read article.

Pinpointing catalytic sites: Z-contrast imaging in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope is used to reveal the size, shape, and composition of supported metal complexes. In tandem with spectroscopic techniques, the structure of these complexes can be fully resolved on the atomic scale.

[Full Paper]
Nigel D. Browning, Ceren Aydin, Jing Lu, Apoorva Kulkarni, Norihiko L. Okamoto, Volkan Ortalan, Bryan W. Reed, Alper Uzun, Bruce C. Gates
ChemCatChem, Mar 20, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200872. Read article.

Baby face: Interface engineering of ceria-supported Au catalysts was achieved by a combination of DFT calculations and synthetic techniques. The reducibility of the Au/ceria catalysts was determined by the interfacial -Au-O-Ce_n- structures.

[Communication]
Lei Wang, Gang Lu, Dan Yang, Jin Wang, Zhibin Zhu, Zhixiang Wang, Kebin Zhou
ChemCatChem, Mar 19, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300043. Read article.

Dream island: Monoatomic, high-platinum islands deposited on a Rh(1 1 1) electrode have an electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation that is 20 times higher than that measured on platinum electrodes. On these islands, CO₂ and acetic acid are the final products.

[Communication]
Vinicius Del Colle, Vitali Grozovski, Enrique Herrero, Juan M. Feliu
ChemCatChem, Mar 19, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200687. Read article.

Tetrahedra prevailing: An increased reaction rate for lipase-catalyzed N-acylation of amino alcohols and related compounds can be explained by a hydrogen shuttle mechanism that avoids nitrogen inversion in the transition state and favors a tetrahedral intermediate for facile amide bond synthesis.

[Full Paper]
Per-Olof Syrén, Florian Le Joubioux, Yesmine Ben Henda, Thierry Maugard, Karl Hult, Marianne Graber
ChemCatChem, Mar 19, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200751. Read article.

Get all you wished for: This study reveals new capabilities of reductive deposition as a method for the preparation of Pt-on-carbon catalysts. It enables one to avoid confinement of Pt nanoparticles in narrow pores, to adjust the particle size to optimum for the reaction of interest, to obtain various types of Pt distribution over the support, and to influence catalytic properties by simple means.

[Full Paper]
Ksenia M. Kaprielova, Igor I. Ovchinnikov, Olga A. Yakovina, Alexander S. Lisitsyn
ChemCatChem, Mar 18, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200769. Read article.

A porous paint: Anatase nanocrystals with large surface areas that were painted on the surface of titanate nanofibers bonded solidly. This process generated a superior active surface for photocatalytic reactions, either serving as the photocatalyst or Au catalyst support.

[Full Paper]
Zhanfeng Zheng, Jian Zhao, Hongwei Liu, Jiangwen Liu, Arixin Bo, Huaiyong Zhu
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200923. Read article.

Be small and neutral! O₂ activation and CO oxidation with Rh₁ and Rh₆ supported on γ-Al₂O₃ are investigated here through ab initio molecular dynamics techniques. Simulation finds that reactivity varies as Rh⁰>Rh^I>Rh₆.

[Full Paper]
Tushar K. Ghosh, Nisanth N. Nair
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200799. Read article.

Join the chain gang: Chain-like ZSM-5 crystals that are synthesized in the presence of starch show higher p-xylene selectivity in m-xylene isomerization than normal, mesoporous, and sheet-like ZSM-5 crystals.

[Full Paper]
Yan Liu, Xiaozhao Zhou, Xinmei Pang, Yinying Jin, Xiangju Meng, Xiaoming Zheng, Xionghou Gao, Feng-Shou Xiao
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200691. Read article.

Green synthesis of cyclic carbonates: Magnesium(II)/phosphine complexes are developed for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates through the coupling of epoxides and carbon dioxide. Various cyclic carbonates are prepared in excellent yields under extremely mild, solvent-free conditions at relatively low temperatures and pressures. The catalyst system shows excellent recyclability, and the cyclic carbonates can be separated easily.

[Communication]
Yiping Ren, Jae-Jin Shim
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200770. Read article.

Supramolecular nanocatalysts! Ruthenium nanoparticles stabilized by methylated β-cyclodextrins in water can be prepared using either a one-pot or a cascade reduction process (see picture). This preparation of nanoparticles can be used for the hydrogenation of arenes in biphasic media.

[Full Paper]
Nguyet Trang Thanh Chau, Soraya Handjani, Jean-Paul Guegan, Miguel Guerrero, Eric Monflier, Karine Philippot, Audrey Denicourt-Nowicki, Alain Roucoux
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200718. Read article.

Straight to the core of the matter: Recent progress in conceptual designs of state-of-the-art core–shell nanostructured catalysts with active species in the core is reviewed. The core–shell catalysts possess multifunctions and show unique catalysis for efficient organic transformations.

[Minireview]
Takato Mitsudome, Kiyotomi Kaneda
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200724. Read article.

Extracting knowledge from past data: A simple method is designed by using various data mining tools, such as decision trees, clustering techniques, and artificial neural networks, to extract valuable knowledge from the experimental data for selective CO oxidation in the literature; this way, some useful trends, rules, and correlations, which are not easily comprehensible to the naked eye, are deduced systematically.

[Full Paper]
M. Erdem Günay, Ramazan Yildirim
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200665. Read article.

CSI: Carbon–Silica Investigations: The incorporation of silica in the porous carbon framework modifies the surface chemistry of the hydrophobic support through oxygenated functional groups, resulting in preferential Co adsorption in the vicinity of silica. This encouraged greater dispersion and reducibility of cobalt than seen for carbon-supported cobalt catalysts. The deactivation of cobalt over carbon supported catalyst is reduced by the hybridization of carbon using silica particles.

[Full Paper]
Prashant R. Karandikar, Jo-Yong Park, Yun-Jo Lee, Ki-Won Jun, Kyoung-Su Ha, Geun Jae Kwak, Hae-Gu Park, Joo Yeong Cheon
ChemCatChem, Mar 14, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200433. Read article.

Unnatural reactions: We report the synthesis of a large variety of N-substituted aspartic acids by addition of structurally diverse amines to fumaric acid; the reactions are catalyzed by a previously engineered variant of methylaspartate ammonia lyase. The additions are highly enantioselective and yield only the L enantiomers of the corresponding amino acid products (>99 % ee).

[Communication]
Vinod Puthan Veetil, Hans Raj, Marianne de Villiers, Pieter G. Tepper, Frank J. Dekker, Wim J. Quax, Gerrit J. Poelarends
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200906. Read article.

Third phase for the catalyst: A hydrophilic metal–ligand complex formed from the precursor [Rh(acac)(CO)₂] and the bidentate ligand SulfoXantPhos (see picture) was found to be a suitable candidate as a catalyst complex for the hydroformylation of 1-dodecene in multiphase systems formulated from water, 1-dodecene, and a nonionic surfactant.

[Full Paper]
Tobias Hamerla, Anke Rost, Yasemin Kasaka, Reinhard Schomäcker
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200744. Read article.

Full steam ahead: In situ scanning transmission X-ray microscopy has been used in combination with catalytic testing and bulk characterization methods to study the effect of a hydrothermal treatment on the reactivity and stability of H-SAPO-34 during the methanol-to-hydrocarbons reaction.

[Full Paper]
Luis R. Aramburo, Javier Ruiz-Martínez, Linn Sommer, Bjørnar Arstad, Robison Buitrago-Sierra, Antonio Sepúlveda-Escribano, Henny W. Zandbergen, Unni Olsbye, Frank M. F. de Groot, Bert M. Weckhuysen
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200670. Read article.

When the bubble bursts: Remarkable enhancement of the electrocatalytic activity of Pt–Pd catalysts was achieved by introducing porous architectures with three-dimensional dendritic microstructures, which were fabricated in situ by means of a novel periodic hydrogen-evolution-assisted electrodeposition strategy (see scheme). The resulting catalyst exhibited significantly improved catalytic properties for glucose electrooxidation.

[Full Paper]
Xiangheng Niu, Hongli Zhao, Chen Chen, Minbo Lan
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200658. Read article.

To tether a tungsten: A hybrid material, featuring single-site phenolic functionalities on a silica surface was developed and subsequently used to tether a tungstenocarbyne complex. Drastic improvements in terms of activity and stability in propene metathesis were observed with respect to the silica counterpart. Further tuning of the spacer moiety with fluorine atoms led to additional significant improvements in activity.

[Full Paper]
Nicolas Popoff, Jeff Espinas, Jérémie Pelletier, Kai C. Szeto, Jean Thivolle-Cazat, Laurent Delevoye, Régis M. Gauvin, Mostafa Taoufik
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200850. Read article.

It never rains but it precipitates: Mixed oxides of Zr and Mg are prepared by two precipitation methods to investigate the promotional effect of ZrO₂ on MgO for dehydration, dehydrogenation, aldolization, and transesterification. The oxide catalysts are characterized by adsorption microcalorimetry, electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction, and results are correlated to catalytic performance.

[Full Paper]
Joseph T. Kozlowski, Malte Behrens, Robert Schlögl, Robert J. Davis
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200833. Read article.

Lip synthing: A lipase-catalyzed, green, and efficient approach for the cross-aldol reaction promoted by water with high yield and good stereoselectivity is described.

[Full Paper]
Zong-Bo Xie, Na Wang, Long-Hua Zhou, Fang Wan, Ting He, Zhang-Gao Le, Xiao-Qi Yu
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200890. Read article.

Aerobic oxidation: The N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI)-promoted aerobic oxidation of cycloalkanes can be performed by supporting NHPI on high-surface-area solids. Of the materials tested, NHPI incorporated onto commercially available Fe(BTC) (BTC=1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate) appears to be most efficient due to the balance of high combined selectivity toward –ol/-one products and conversion.

[Full Paper]
Yusuke Mikami, Amarajothi Dhakshinamoorthy, Mercedes Alvaro, Hermenegildo Garcia
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200854. Read article.

Small and active: Co nanoparticles supported on graphitized activated carbon are highly stable and selective for acetone steam reforming. DFT calculations were performed to analyze the reaction mechanism. The present work provides insight into the rational design of catalysts that can selectively oxidize species arising from C-C bond cleavage of biomass-derived oxygenates to maximize H₂ selectivity and minimize the formation of coke and methane.

[Communication]
Junming Sun, Donghai Mei, Ayman M. Karim, Abhaya K. Datye, Yong Wang
ChemCatChem, Mar 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300041. Read article.

MOF-199 exhibits high activity in the C-arylation reaction of aryl iodides and acetylacetone to form α-aryl ketones. The catalyst can be facilely separated and be reused without significant degradation in catalytic activity.

[Full Paper]
Nam T. S. Phan, Tung T. Nguyen, Phuong Ho, Khoa D. Nguyen
ChemCatChem, Mar 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200792. Read article.

Methanol all around the perimeter: The interaction and reaction of methanol on a catalytically relevant Cu/CuO_x interface has been studied at the atomic scale with scanning tunneling microscopy.

[Full Paper]
Timothy J. Lawton, Georgios Kyriakou, Ashleigh E. Baber, E. Charles H. Sykes
ChemCatChem, Mar 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200810. Read article.

Which silane reacts first? Experimental results and DFT calculations of the N-heterocyclic carbene catalyzed reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol with silanes indicated that the overall process involved a three-step cascade reaction with the first hydrosilylation as the rate-determining step (see picture). This mechanism explains the pathway to the methoxide end product and the high hydrogen transfer yield.

[Full Paper]
Siti Nurhanna Riduan, Jackie Y. Ying, Yugen Zhang
ChemCatChem, Mar 06, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200721. Read article.

On the [Rh]oad again: A series of optically pure allylic alcohols is obtained through the Rh/BINAP-catalyzed redox isomerization of racemic allylic alcohols. An improved system involves the use of cationic rhodium and a noncoordinating solvent, in which aromatic and aliphatic allylic alcohols are effectively resolved with k_f/k_s (k_f=rate of fast reaction, k_s=rate of slow reaction) values up to 24.

[Communication]
Kai Ren, Lei Zhang, Bei Hu, Mengmeng Zhao, Yahui Tu, Xiaomin Xie, Tony Y. Zhang, Zhaoguo Zhang
ChemCatChem, Mar 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201300014. Read article.

Pulling the platinum card: Changes in the O₂ reduction (ORR) activity and the structure of carbon-supported Pt_xFe_y catalysts upon electrochemical stress testing are investigated. The dissolution of Pt induced by potential cycling clearly contributes to the observed decrease in the Pt surface area and mass ORR activity for the Pt_xFe_y/C catalysts.

[Full Paper]
Liang Chen, Mickey C. Y. Chan, Feihong Nan, Christina Bock, Gianluigi A. Botton, Patrick H. J. Mercier, Barry R. MacDougall
ChemCatChem, Mar 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200614. Read article.

A beautiful couple: Oxidative C-S and C-C bond formation with aryl and alkyl thiols is catalyzed under mild conditions in a reaction vessel open to air at pH 4.5 in the presence of a commercial laccase (Novozym 51003 or Suberase) and a cosolvent (DMF) to afford 1,4-naphthoquinone sulfides. Although both monothiolation and dithiolation of the 1,4-naphthohydroquinone are accomplished, the latter is favored.

[Full Paper]
Kevin W. Wellington, Gregory E. R. Gordon, Lindelani A. Ndlovu, Paul Steenkamp
ChemCatChem, Mar 02, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200606. Read article.

Water is beneficial, too! The MoO₃/SiO₂ catalyst with very high acidity is prepared by the sol–gel process, and its characterization reveals the in situ formation of reduced silicomolybdic acid on silica nanoparticles in the presence of water, which acts as catalytically active species that dissolves in the reaction medium and gives high activity responsible for the esterification of ethanol and acetic acid.

[Full Paper]
Trupti V. Kotbagi, Ankush V. Biradar, Shubhangi B. Umbarkar, Mohan K. Dongare
ChemCatChem, Mar 01, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200662. Read article.

Blank reaction: Ten years ago, it was reported that hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) from defatted almond meal shows catalytic promiscuity in the addition of cyanide to imines. Here we provide experimental evidence that this addition occurs in a non-enzymatic reaction, and two structurally different HNLs do not catalyse this reaction.

[Communication]
Guzman Torrelo, Jianfeng Jin, Ulf Hanefeld
ChemCatChem, Feb 28, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200804. Read article.

Surface coverage reveals all: Catalytic oxidation mechanisms of NH_x (x=1–3) on an Ir(1 1 1) surface with O and OH oxidizing agents are investigated by using DFT calculations. Reactions proceed via NH₃+O→NH₂+OH, NH₂+OH→NH+H₂O, and NH+OH→N+H₂O, followed by N-N and/or N-O recombination reactions. Promotional effects of O and OH are elucidated by energy barrier analysis; relationships between final product selectivity, O and N coverage, and reaction temperature are analyzed.

[Full Paper]
Xiaoqing Lu, Zhigang Deng, Ka-Shing Chau, Longfei Li, Zengqiang Wen, Wenyue Guo, Chi-Man Lawrence Wu
ChemCatChem, Feb 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200762. Read article.

Noble metals change everything: The introduction of noble metals (M) into zeolites causes a decrease in the strength of Brønsted acid sites (Si(OH)Al). This effect is because of charge transfer between the noble metal and the support-framework oxygen atoms, which affects the OH bond strength in the Si(OH)Al groups.

[Full Paper]
Dominic Santi, Sandra Rabl, Vincenzo Calemma, Michael Dyballa, Michael Hunger, Jens Weitkamp
ChemCatChem, Feb 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200675. Read article.

Adsorbent with four binding modes: The interface between metal and oxides is considered to play a key role in redox reactions. A combination of STM imaging and DFT calculations provided direct evidence at the atomic scale that the interface of Cu-O/Cu(1 1 0) is the most favorable site for the adsorption and activation of an organic, multifunctional molecule.

[Full Paper]
Kai Sheng, Huihui Kong, Zhiwen Li, Chi Zhang, Qiang Sun, Qinggang Tan, Yunxiang Pan, Aiguo Hu, Wei Xu
ChemCatChem, Feb 23, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200955. Read article.

One plus One makes One: This review describes the latest results regarding optimizations and applications of the novel as well as known enzymes for carbon-carbon bond formation.

[Review]
Kateryna Fesko, Mandana Gruber-Khadjawi
ChemCatChem, Feb 21, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200709. Read article.

Ru(II) for the home team: Ruthenium complexes of simple and cheap phosphite ligands give high activities in the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide under supercritical conditions. The activities correlate well with the steric demand of the substituents.

[Communication]
Keven Muller, Yu Sun, Werner R. Thiel
ChemCatChem, Feb 21, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200818. Read article.

Lost identity: Pd-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation allows the quantitative deracemization of chiral substrates. The reaction can be diastereodivergent if multiple diastereomers of the product are possible and if a specific process offers the ability to generate each of them. Herein, the advances made in this field are summarized and novel diastereodivergent deracemization and diastereodivergent de-epimerization concepts are introduced and discussed.

[Concept]
Maria Teresa Oliveira, Davide Audisio, Supaporn Niyomchon, Nuno Maulide
ChemCatChem, Feb 21, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200644. Read article.

Steam powered: Recent work towards unraveling the CO₂ selectivity of a number of unsupported and supported Pd-X intermetallic compounds (X=Zn, Ga, In, Sn, and Ge) is reviewed and the importance of bifunctional synergy between the catalyst constituents for establishing a state of pronounced CO₂ selectivity is highlighted.

[Minireview]
Harald Lorenz, Christoph Rameshan, Thomas Bielz, Norbert Memmel, Werner Stadlmayr, Lukas Mayr, Qian Zhao, Soipatta Soisuwan, Bernhard Klötzer, Simon Penner
ChemCatChem, Feb 20, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200712. Read article.

Like a sore thumb: Niobium stands out among neighboring transition metals for its catalytic performance in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates. Readily available NbCl₅ is a very efficient catalyst for the preparation of industrially relevant carbonates at ambient temperature, low CO₂ pressure, and low concentrations. DMAP=N,N-dimethylaminopyridine.

[Communication]
Antoine Monassier, Valerio D’Elia, Mirza Cokoja, Hailin Dong, Jérémie D. A. Pelletier, Jean-Marie Basset, Fritz E. Kühn
ChemCatChem, Feb 20, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200916. Read article.

A nosy partner: Partial complex reduction during hydrogenation reactions was observed in carbon xerogels supports leading to a catalytic activity enhancement. Selectivity to an intermediate product can be modulated by the mesopore size of the support.

[Full Paper]
C. C. Gheorghiu, C. Salinas Martínez de Lecea, M. C. Román Martínez
ChemCatChem, Feb 19, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200598. Read article.

Crystal evolution: AgBr nanocrystals, evolving from plates through truncated cubes and finally to regular cubes, corresponding to a progressive shrinkage of exposed {1 1 1} facets and enlargement of exposed {1 0 0} facets, are prepared and their growth mechanism investigated. These nanocrystals exhibit facet-dependent photocatalytic properties.

[Full Paper]
Hua Wang, Yang Liu, Pengfei Hu, Liang He, Jinghong Li, Lin Guo
ChemCatChem, Feb 19, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200629. Read article.

Bio-oil to fuels: Highly selective hydrodeoxygenation of phenolic bio-oil related phenols to alkanes is achieved in aqueous media over a dual-functional catalyst system consisting of water-soluble ionic liquid-like copolymer (A)-stabilized nanocatalysts and a mineral acid. HDO=hydrodeoxygenation.

[Full Paper]
Jinzhu Chen, Jing Huang, Limin Chen, Longlong Ma, Tiejun Wang, Uzma I. Zakai
ChemCatChem, Feb 18, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200582. Read article.

Pug-walls: The confinement effect of ordered mesoporous TiO₂ results in the formation of highly dispersed Ag clusters with strong interactions between the clusters and the pore walls. The mesoporous Ag/TiO₂ composite exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity under UV/Vis light, owing to the Schottky barrier favoring the separation of photogenerated electron/hole pairs and to surface plasmon resonance, thus improving photocatalytic performance.

[Communication]
Ting Li, Wei Zhou, Jianqiang Wang, Yang Qu, Chungui Tian, Kai Pan, Guohui Tian, Honggang Fu
ChemCatChem, Feb 18, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200896. Read article.

Come together, right now, over ee: Through the combination of substrates with phosphite-oxazoline or phosphite-thiazoline ligands, we identify one of the few catalytic systems that provide high regio- and enantioselectivities in both enantiomers of the alkylation product for a wide range of hindered and unhindered mono-, di-, and trisubstituted substrates with several carbon nucleophiles.

[Full Paper]
Javier Mazuela, Oscar Pàmies, Montserrat Diéguez
ChemCatChem, Feb 12, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200711. Read article.

Fixated on CO₂: Lignin, the second most-abundant biorenewable polymer on our planet, was successfully used as a catalyst in the presence of KI in the cycloaddition of CO₂ with a series of epoxides. This method represents an integrated and ideal green process for the utilization of “carbon-neutral” resources.

[Communication]
Zhilian Wu, Haibo Xie, Xue Yu, Enhui Liu
ChemCatChem, Feb 12, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200894. Read article.

Taking a leaf out of the green book: The use of FeCl₃·6 H₂O as an efficient water-compatible catalyst for the allylic substitution of free alcohols is disclosed. This inexpensive, low-toxic, and easily accessible Fe^III salt used as the catalyst in a process conducted in pure water as the solvent represents an environmentally friendly alternative to previously reported methods and allows the introduction of a broad range of nitrogenated and carbon nucleophiles.

[Full Paper]
Paz Trillo, Alejandro Baeza, Carmen Nájera
ChemCatChem, Feb 12, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200650. Read article.

Triple chase! The Ag/Ag₃PO₄/graphene triple heterostructure composites are fabricated through the redox reaction between Ag⁺ and graphene. The triple heterostructure can improve the charge separation rate under visible-light irradiation. Simultaneously, photocorrosion can be inhibited effectively, which leads to the high structural stability. Thus, the novel Ag/Ag₃PO₄/graphene triple heterostructure demonstrates improved photocatalytic activity and structural stability under visible-light irradiation.

[Full Paper]
Baojiang Jiang, Yanhui Wang, Jian-Qiang Wang, Chungui Tian, Wenjun Li, Qingmao Feng, Qingjiang Pan, Honggang Fu
ChemCatChem, Feb 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200684. Read article.

Cyclos and cycles: Cyclopalladated arylimine complexes are immobilized on solid slides and characterized. The heterogeneous catalyst obtained exhibits 10 times the catalytic performance of its homogeneous counterpart. None of the reactions require the use of ligands, air isolation, or assistant solvents. The catalysts are run for 8 cycles without deactivation. A Suzuki reaction mechanism is proposed.

[Full Paper]
Na Zhao, Tiesheng Li, Zhen Zhai, Jingjing Qiu, Wenjian Xu, Hui Liu, Yangjie Wu
ChemCatChem, Feb 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200730. Read article.

Keep dry and carry on: ZnO supported Co₃O₄ nanoparticles are highly active in the transformation of renewable materials through carbonylation of glycerol by urea. The activity of the catalyst is modulated by interaction of the nanoparticles with the ZnO support, which depends on the preparation stage. The Co₃O₄/ZnO catalyst system prepared by a dry mixing method at room temperature is very promising for this reaction.

[Full Paper]
Fernando Rubio-Marcos, Vanesa Calvino-Casilda, Miguel A. Bañares, José F. Fernandez
ChemCatChem, Feb 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200620. Read article.

Gold Ghost in the Shell: Surface Pd segregation is observed upon exposure of bimetallic AuPd nanoparticles to a CO+O₂ reaction mixture. The process was scrutinized by means of two in situ techniques, environmental high-resolution electron microscopy (ETEM) and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS).

[Full Paper]
Laurent Delannoy, Suzanne Giorgio, Jean Gabriel Mattei, Claude R. Henry, Nadia El Kolli, Christophe Méthivier, Catherine Louis
ChemCatChem, Feb 07, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200618. Read article.

What is the poison? Three different condensation reactions were chosen as model reaction to determine the nature of the poisons causing structural instability (see picture), and varied product selectivity for two related metal–organic framework catalysts, Fe(BTC) and synthetic MIL-100(Fe). Undesired intermediates or byproducts were found to block the pores, whereas phenolic substrates could substitute the metal ligands thus destabilizing the catalyst structure.

[Full Paper]
Maksym Opanasenko, Amarajothi Dhakshinamoorthy, Jiří Čejka, Hermenegildo Garcia
ChemCatChem, Feb 05, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200643. Read article.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a metal-free catalyst exhibited high activity and excellent stability for the aerobic oxidation of ethylbenzene (EB) to acetophenone (AcPO) in the liquid phase. The results demonstrated that the CNTs played an important role in the decomposition of 1-phenylethyl hydroperoxide (PEHP) and contributed to the production of AcPO.

[Full Paper]
Jin Luo, Feng Peng, Hao Yu, Hongjuan Wang, Wenxu Zheng
ChemCatChem, Jan 30, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200603. Read article.

Aroma all around! Benzene, toluene, and p-xylene are produced by the reaction of ethylene with furan, 2-methylfuran, and 2,5-dimethylfuran over WO_x–ZrO₂ catalysts at 523 K in yields of 18, 34, and 80 %, respectively.

[Full Paper]
Dong Wang, Christian M. Osmundsen, Esben Taarning, James A. Dumesic
ChemCatChem, Jan 30, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200757. Read article.

Recycling at its best: A copper-incorporated porous, Schiff base-modified polydivinylbenzene is an effective heterogeneous catalyst for the Ullmann coupling reaction. The porous, solid-supported catalysts have excellent reactivity and can be readily recycled with a slight decrease in catalyst reactivity, rendering them practical heterogeneous catalysts that best reproduce the homogeneous catalyst reactivity.

[Full Paper]
Liang Wang, Jian Zhang, Jing Sun, Longfeng Zhu, Haiyan Zhang, Fujian Liu, Dafang Zheng, Xiangju Meng, Xiaodong Shi, Feng-Shou Xiao
ChemCatChem, Jan 25, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200578. Read article.

Ligands of mass formylation: The acetal VMD derived from acrolein and MPD is hydroformylated with rhodium catalysts under homogeneous conditions with perfect chemoselectivity for the aldehydes. Diphosphine ligands with a narrow bite angle (≈85°), such as dppe, favor the branched aldehyde with selectivities up to 78 %, whereas those with a large bite angle (≈110°), such as xantphos, produce the linear aldehyde with up to 91 % selectivity.

[Full Paper]
Jérémy Ternel, Jean-Luc Dubois, Jean-Luc Couturier, Eric Monflier, Jean-François Carpentier
ChemCatChem, Jan 21, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200630. Read article.

EDX marks the spot: STEM-EDX mapping is a highly useful tool for studying advanced catalytic materials. Beam intensity and dwell time can be adjusted to an optimum balance for obtaining an unambiguously elemental map.

[Communication]
Bingsen Zhang, Wei Zhang, Lidong Shao, Dang Sheng Su
ChemCatChem, Jan 11, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200654. Read article.

A crown of titanium: A new class of chiral macrocyclic Ti^IV–salen complexes are efficient, recyclable, and scalable catalysts for the asymmetric addition of ethyl cyanoformate to aldehydes, which is useful for the synthesis of bioactive compounds. The figure shows the best-performing ligand with two salen units linked flexibly in a crown ether-like motif.

[Full Paper]
Arghya Sadhukhan, Manoj K. Choudhary, Noor-ul H. Khan, Rukhsana I. Kureshy, Sayed H. R. Abdi, Hari C. Bajaj
ChemCatChem, Jan 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200617. Read article.

Running rings around fuel cells: The performance of a fuel cell is increased by using organometallic catalysis. An organometallic [Ni^IIRu^IV] peroxo catalyst functions as the cathode catalyst in a fuel cell with a much greater efficiency than our previous systems. The organometallic catalyst acts in both solid and solution phases and allows for observation of the mechanism, providing opportunity for further improvement.

[Full Paper]
Takahiro Matsumoto, Kyoungmok Kim, Hidetaka Nakai, Takashi Hibino, Seiji Ogo
ChemCatChem, Jan 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200595. Read article.

Watch out, the borrowers are about! N,N'-alkyl aryl ureas and N,N'-dialkyl ureas were synthesized by a transition metal-catalyzed regioselective N3-alkylation of the N-monosubstituted ureas with alcohols. This opens up the design of regioselective N-alkylation of amines with alcohols based on the regioselective condensation of amines with aldehydes, facilitating the progress of the “hydrogen autotransfer” (or “hydrogen-borrowing”)

[Full Paper]
Feng Li, Chunlou Sun, Haixia Shan, Xiaoyuan Zou, Jianjiang Xie
ChemCatChem, Jan 09, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200648. Read article.

Order, order! More ordered graphitic layers on the supporting carbon nanofibers surface led to Au particles bonded through their {1 1 1} plane, exhibiting more facet area. This catalyst presented higher selectivity toward C-C bond cleavage in the liquid-phase oxidation of glycerol.

[Full Paper]
Di Wang, Alberto Villa, Dangsheng Su, Laura Prati, Robert Schlögl
ChemCatChem, Nov 30, 2012, DOI: 10.1002/cctc.201200535. Read article.