ChemCatChem

From natural sources: The utilization of (biobased) aliphatic alcohols for the in situ enzymatic production of aldehydes and the subsequent lyase-catalyzed carboligation is explored for the production of α-hydroxyketones, which are valuable building blocks in organic synthesis. The reactions proceed with high conversion and enantioselectivity and are performed in an integrative manner. BAL=benzaldehyde lyase, FAD=flavin adenine dinucleotide.

Finding the rightk: Detailed kinetic studies on sec-alcohol racemization over high-performance homogeneous cyclopentadienylruthenium catalysts have been performed providing for the first time the calculated racemization rate constants for these systems, relevant for chemo–enzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution of alcohols.

Ruthenium shark takes a bite: Oxalic acid esters are smoothly hydrogenated into either alkyl glycolate or ethylene glycol under mild conditions.

Plane sailing: Planar TiO_xC_y films are used as model supports for Pt nanoparticles for ethanol oxidation at 25–80 °C. The highest steady-state current density of Pt on TiO_xC_y at 80 °C was a factor of 170 higher than that of Pt on glassy carbon.

Positive reinforcement: The composite catalytic-dopant@catalytic-metal (an organic catalyst entrapped within a catalytic metal) synergistically outperforms the combined activities of each individual catalyst. Specifically, the dual catalytic activity of Nafion@Pd is investigated by combining elimination with either hydrogenation or disproportion in a one-pot, two-catalytic-step process, which proceeds to completion with only the catalytic composite.