Archive for January, 2014

HOT articles for January

Homogeneous catalytic reduction of CO2 with hydrosilanes
Francisco J. Fernández-Alvarez, Abdullah M. Aitani and Luis A. Oro  
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00948C       

Graphical abstract

Free to access until 28th February 2014


CO2 photoreduction with H2O vapor by porous MgO–TiO2 microspheres: effects of surface MgO dispersion and CO2 adsorption–desorption dynamics
Lianjun Liu, Cunyu Zhao, Daniel Pitts, Huilei Zhao and Ying Li  
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00807J     

Graphical abstract   

Free to access until 28th February 2014


Chromium(III) amine-bis(phenolate) complexes as catalysts for copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide and CO2
Hua Chen, Louise N. Dawe and Christopher M. Kozak  
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/c3cy01002c

Graphical abstract

Free to access until 21st February 2014


Self-regeneration of three-way catalyst rhodium supported on La-containing ZrO2 in an oxidative atmosphere
Hisaya Kawabata, Yuki Koda, Hirosuke Sumida, Masahiko Shigetsu, Akihide Takami and Kei Inumaru  
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00838J

Graphical abstract

Free to access until 17th February 2014


Developing an efficient catalyst for controlled oxidation of small alkanes under ambient conditions
Penumaka Nagababu, Steve S.-F. Yu, Suman Maji, Ravirala Ramu and Sunney I. Chan  
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00884C

Graphical abstract

Free to access until 17th February 2014

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

FineCat 2014 – Symposium on heterogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals

The 3rd FineCat Symposium will be held on 2-3 April 2014 in the Steri Palace, hall of Palermo’s University Rectorate, with plenary lectures from David Cole-Hamilton, Serge Kaliaguine, Paolo Fornasiero and Jose Antonio Lopez-Sanchez.

The conference is jointly organised by the Institute of Nanostructured Materials of Italy’s Research Council (CNR) and by Palermo’s University DEIM Department  and was born out of the 2011 Catalysis Science & Technology themed issue of “Heterogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals” dedicated to Prof. Michele Rossi. It aims to provide opportunities for contact between academic and industrial researchers, manufacturers and users of solid catalysts for the efficient and selective production of fine chemicals.

The dealine for oral and poster abstracts is 3rd February 2014. Register now!

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Synthesis of cyclic carbonates catalysed by aluminium heteroscorpionate complexes

The potential of carbon dioxide to serve as a sustainable feedstock on an industrial scale is exemplified by the reaction of carbon dioxide with epoxides to form cyclic carbonates. These products possess commercial value as both solvents and electrolytes in lithium ion batteries. 

In their latest Catalysis Science & Technology article, Michael North of the University of York, UK, and Antonio Otero from the Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Spain, and colleagues investigate using bi- and trimetallic aluminium heteroscorpionate catalysts to drive this carbonate synthesis. 

Heteroscorpionate aluminium complexThe authors subjected nineteen complexes to a screening process which involved successive elimination based on their initial reactivity towards styrene oxide. The catalysts differed in their nuclearities and included either alkyl or phenoxide ligands, in addition to having one or more bis-pyrazole ligands. They found that the bi- and trinuclear catalysts, in the presence of a tetrabutylammonium bromide co-catalyst, exhibited the highest conversions of monomer at 10 bar pressure and room temperature; thus, the authors subsequently tested these six complexes at 1 bar pressure. Among these, a trimetallic, alkyl aluminium complex gave complete conversion to styrene carbonate and was subjected to further optimization studies. 

The team of researchers also studied the effect of water on the reaction to elucidate the catalytically active species. They discovered that a small amount of water (0.75 mol % or less) produced no effect, pointing towards the presence of a partially hydrolyzed, oligomeric structure containing bridging aluminium units. Although ineffective for the transformation of more challenging internal epoxides, the optimized catalyst proved to be highly efficient towards a variety of terminal epoxides. By performing mechanistic studies, it appeared that the reaction follows first order kinetics, implying that cooperative catalysis between aluminium ions does not occur. 

This synergistic catalytic system, comprised of equimolar amounts of a trimetallic aluminium complex and tetrabutylammonium bromide, was determined to be the third most active catalyst for the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from terminal epoxides under ambient conditions. 

Read this Hot article now: 

Synthesis of cyclic carbonates catalysed by aluminium heteroscorpionate complexes
José A. Castro-Osma, Carlos Alonso-Moreno, Agustín Lara-Sánchez, Javier Martinez, Michael North, and Antonio Otero
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2014, DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00810J 

This article is also part of the upcoming themed issue Catalytic Conversion and Use of Carbon Dioxide for Value-Added Organics – to be published Spring 2014.


Jenna Flogeras Jenna Flogeras obtained her M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton), Canada. She is currently working towards her Ph.D. at Memorial University of Newfoundland, under the supervision of Dr Francesca Kerton. Her research is focused on the synthesis of biodegradable polymers using main-group metal complexes as catalysts.
Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)

Catalysis Science & Technology – celebrating a successful year

Last year we celebrated Catalysis Science & Technology‘s first ever impact factor – 3.75. This signified the journal’s prominent entrance into the publishing arena; in which Catalysis Science & Technology has quickly established itself as a high impact journal for top quality catalysis research. We are delighted that the catalysis community also shares our sentiment for the journal, as evidenced by the increasing numbers of submissions from authors. In 2013, we published over 350 articles in print issues – 46 Communications, 290 full papers, 37 Perspective and Mini Review articles, and 3 Comments. A selection of our top-read review articles is shown below (Table 1).    

Table 1 Top downloaded 2013 Perspective and Mini Review articles   


Title Authors
Metal sulphide semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production Kai Zhang and Liejin Guo  
New trends in the synthesis of crystalline microporous materials Giuseppe Bellussi, Angela Carati, Caterina Rizzo and Roberto Millini  
Catalytic activity of unsupported gold nanoparticles Yusuke Mikami, Amarajothi Dhakshinamoorthy, Mercedes Alvaro and Hermenegildo García  
Emerging catalytic processes for the production of adipic acid Stijn Van de Vyver and Yuriy Román-Leshkov  
Epoxidation of olefins with homogeneous catalysts – quo vadis? Simone A. Hauser, Mirza Cokoja and Fritz E. Kühn  


   

As Catalysis Science & Technology steps out of its infancy, quality is as strong a focus as ever. Our dedicated Associate Editors are integral to this goal. In our last Editorial we introduced Professor Tsunehiro Tanaka to the Catalysis Science & Technology team, as Professor Noritaka Mizuno stepped up to join Professor Piet van Leeuwen as Co-Editor-in-Chief. Authors can choose to submit to one of 4 Editorial Offices covering the breadth of catalysis science disciplines (Fig. 1).  

Fig. 1 Catalysis Science & Technology’s Associate Editors.

The Royal Society of Chemistry launched Catalysis Science & Technology to meet the community’s request for a society catalysis journal. In keeping with this and our worldwide readership, we strive to deliver content to benefit the entire catalysis community. Fig. 2 illustrates the diversity of subject areas that we publish, which is also reflected by our themed issues. In 2013, we published issues focusing on environmentally benign catalytic oxidation – guest edited by Alfons Baiker and Tamas Mallat; photocatalysis – guest edited by Licheng Sun and Kazunari Domen; and gold catalysis – guest edited by Graham Hutchings and Stephen Hashmi. We’re equally as excited by next year’s line-up which includes Catalytic Conversion and Use of Carbon Dioxide for Value-Added Organics – guest edited by Arjan Kleij; Sustainable Catalytic Conversions of Renewable Substrates – guest edited by Pieter Bruijinicx and Yuriy Román-Leshkov; and Mechanistic Studies in Catalysis – guest edited by John Brown, Andreas Pfaltz and Rutger van Santen. Two out of the three have an environmental-twist, and each will have representation from both homogeneous and heterogeneous author communities. 

 

 

Fig. 2 Subject area breakdown of Catalysis Science & Technology’s 2013 published articles.   

We know that it is our talented community that keeps quality consistently high so getting out of the office to meet people is a high priority for us. This past year, we enjoyed meeting with researchers at the 23rd North American Catalysis Society meeting; EuropaCat; the 20th EuCheMS conference on organometallic chemistry; the Organometallic Chemistry Gordon Research Conference as well as both of the ACS National Meetings. We were also proud to offer sponsorship at a number of these meetings in addition to providing several poster prizes.   

The Royal Society of Chemistry’s not-for-profit ethos extends beyond our journal communities – in 2012, over 60 of our member groups each received grants of £1000 to arrange events and activities to promote the chemical sciences. These had an international nature and ranged from workshops for migrant children in Beijing and a science fair on water chemistry in southern India to supporting chemistry education in tsunami-affected areas in Sri Lanka.   

By publishing with Catalysis Science & Technology, you’ll be supporting the wider scientific community and future generations of chemical scientists.   

Looking for a New Year’s resolution? Raise your profile and benefit your research through the Royal Society of Chemistry.   

Many happy returns for 2014!   

Fiona McKenzie and Jamie Humphrey
Deputy Editor & Managing Editor

  

Download the pdf here 

Digg This
Reddit This
Stumble Now!
Share on Facebook
Bookmark this on Delicious
Share on LinkedIn
Bookmark this on Technorati
Post on Twitter
Google Buzz (aka. Google Reader)