Wendy Mak, Development Editor – Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

Author Archive

Call for Papers: 2014 themed issues

31 Oct 2013

We are delighted to announce that Catalysis Science & Technology will be publishing two themed issues focusing on environmental catalysis in 2014. We welcome your submissions, so read on for details:

Catalytic Conversion and Use of Carbon Dioxide for Value-Added Organics–deadline 1st December 2013

Sustainable Catalytic Conversions of Renewable Substrates–deadline 11th February 2014

Issue scopes

Catalytic Conversion and Use of Carbon Dioxide for Value-Added Organics
Guest edited by Professor Arjan Kleij, this issue will highlight developments in the field of catalytic conversion and use of carbon dioxide into higher value organic compounds.

Sustainable Catalytic Conversions of Renewable Substrates
Guest edited by Professor Yuriy Román-Leshkov and Professor Pieter Bruijnincx, this issue will contain contributions on topics related to catalytic biomass conversion methods, including homogeneous, heterogeneous and enzymatic processes.

Want to submit?

All types of manuscript—communications, full papers, Minireviews and Perspectives, will be considered for publication. The manuscript should be prepared according to our article guidelines and submitted via our online system.

All manuscripts will be subject to the normal refereeing procedure and inclusion in the themed issue will be at the discretion of the Guest Editors. Please indicate in your submission that you would like the manuscript to be considered for this themed issue.

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European Federation of Catalysis Societies Young Researcher’s Award

04 Sep 2013

We would like to congratulate Professor Javier Perez-Ramirez, associate editor of Catalysis Science & Technology, who won this year’s EFCATS (European Federation of Catalysis Societies) Young Researcher’s Award. This award recognizes his many contributions to the field of heterogeneous catalysis, especially his research on the rational design of hierarchical zeolites for catalytic applications and the development of novel catalysts for chlorine production. The award will be presented on the 5th September at the EuropaCat meeting in Lyon, France.

Javier Pérez-Ramírez has been the Chair of Catalysis Engineering at the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich since January 2010. Born and raised in Benidorm, Spain, Javier studied chemical engineering at the University of Alicante and later earned his PhD degree at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 2002. After spending some time in industry (2002-2005), holding several positions at Norsk Hydro and Yara International in Porsgrunn (Norway) where he was responsible of core projects related to catalyst development within fertilizer production, he was appointed ICREA research professor at ICIQ in Tarragona, Spain where he remained until his move to Zurich in 2010. The goal of this research is the discovery of energy-efficient chemical transformations that minimize byproducts, separation of waste and eliminate precious metals.

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Homogeneous catalyst made to act more like an enzyme

05 Aug 2013

Homogeneous catalytic systems which display selectivity in a mixture of similar substrates are rare. Now scientists in Italy and the Netherlands have shown that encapsulating a homogeneous catalyst in a supramolecular host can give it a more discerning nature.

Alessandro Scarso at the University of Venice and colleagues found that putting a catalyst within a supramolecular host makes it act more like an enzyme – only specific substrates can fit into the cavity and reach the catalyst. Supramolecular interactions between the substrate, host and catalyst provide additional levels of electronic restriction.

Read the full story at Chemistry World

Substrate Selectivity in the Alkyne Hydration Mediated by NHC-Au(I) controlled by Encapsulation of the Catalyst within a Hydrogen Bonded Hexameric Host
Alessandro Scarso, Alessandra Cavarzan, Francesco Trentin, Joost Reek and Giorgio Strukul
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00300K, Communication

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HOT articles for August

02 Aug 2013

Comparison of methane activation and catalytic ethylene formation on free gold and palladium dimer cations: product binding determines the catalytic turnover
Sandra M. Lang, Anja Frank and Thorsten M. Bernhardt

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00286A, Paper

Total oxidation of naphthalene at low temperatures using palladium nanoparticles supported on inorganic oxide-coated cordierite honeycomb monoliths
Francisco J. Varela-Gandía, Ángel Berenguer-Murcia, Dolores Lozano-Castelló, Diego Cazorla-Amorós, David R. Sellick and Stuart H. Taylor

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00323J, Paper

Development of a 4,4′-biphenyl/phosphine-based COF for the heterogeneous Pd-catalysed telomerisation of 1,3-butadiene
Peter J. C. Hausoul, Tamara M. Eggenhuisen, Deepak Nand, Marc Baldus, Bert M. Weckhuysen, Robertus J. M. Klein Gebbink and Pieter C. A. Bruijnincx

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00188A, Paper

Superior activity of rutile-supported ruthenium nanoparticles for HCl oxidation
Evgenii V. Kondratenko, Amol P. Amrute, Marga-Martina Pohl, Norbert Steinfeldt, Cecilia Mondelli and Javier Pérez-Ramírez

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00372H, Communication

Superior activity of rutile-supported ruthenium nanoparticles for HCl oxidation

Recent advances in the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction over semiconductors
Jin Mao, Kan Li and Tianyou Peng

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00345K, Perspective

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Hot Articles for July

09 Jul 2013

Catalytic decomposition of ammonium dinitramide (ADN) as high energetic material over CuO-based catalysts
Rachid Amrousse, Kohji Fujisato, Hiroto Habu, Ahmed Bachar, Claudine Follet-Houttemane and Keiichi Hori
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00214D, Paper

A silver-free system for the direct C–H auration of arenes and heteroarenes from gold chloride complexes
Nanna Ahlsten, Gregory J. P. Perry, Xacobe C. Cambeiro, Tanya C. Boorman and Igor Larrosa
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00240C, Communication

Highly practical iron-catalyzed C–O cleavage reactions
Dominik Gärtner, Hannelore Konnerth and Axel Jacobi von Wangelin
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00266G, Communication

Highly practical iron-catalyzed C–O cleavage reactions

Tandem ethylene oligomerisation and Friedel–Crafts alkylation of toluene catalysed by bis-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene nickel(II) complexes and ethylaluminium dichloride
Asheena Budhai, Bernard Omondi, Stephen O. Ojwach, Collins Obuah, Emmanuel Y. Osei-Twum and James Darkwa
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00334E, Paper

Evaluation of nanostructured vanadium(V) oxide in catalytic oxidations
Eric T. Drew, Yang Yang, Julia A. Russo, McKenzie L. Campbell, Samuel A. Rackley, JoAn Hudson, Patrik Schmuki and Daniel C. Whitehead
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00183K, Paper

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Simple Grinding: Key to a highly active bi-metallic catalyst

05 Jul 2013

Posted on behalf of Shreesha Bhat

The trend of employing metal alloys as catalysts in various organic reactions is gaining popularity owing to the considerable advantages it offers. Alloying gold with palladium is known to enhance the activity of the formed catalyst for various oxidation reactions. Present methods employed for the preparation of Au-Pd alloys include wet impregnation, deposition precipitation and sol-immobilization. These methods utilize chloride salts of the gold as a precursor which make the removal of the chloride from the final catalyst difficult. The presence of chloride is known to cause a loss in the catalytic activity of the alloys through blocking of the active sites. Scientists have been trying to find a way to reduce the chlorine content, but the alternatives have been equally discouraging due to various problems associated with them.

In an answer to this challenging problem, Researchers from UK and Pakistan have come up with a simple solution: Simply grind the metal acetates for 10 min with a support and get highly active chloride-free alloys as oxidation catalysts. These catalysts were evaluated against catalysts prepared by impregnation for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol, glycerol and direct H₂O₂ synthesis.

Various optimization studies on the Au:Pd ratio and the metal loading were carried out using turn over frequency (TOF) as the standard for comparisons. The results indicated that the physical grinding (PG) facilitated the Pd-Au alloy formation (not observed with other methods) which is known to produce a synergistic effect on the catalytic activity. It was also found that an optimum ratio of both metals resulted in higher activity with optimum metal loadings. To provide the icing on the cake, the PG (physically ground) catalysts were further successfully employed for the oxidation of various substrates with equal (or improved) TOFs, thus proving the general applicability of these catalysts.

Thus, the present paper showcases how the conventional physical grinding was successful in providing highly active bimetallic catalysts, where most of the other complex methods faltered!!

To read more, follow the link below:

Physical mixing of metal acetates: optimisation of catalyst parameters to produce highly active bimetallic catalysts
Peter J. Miedziak, Simon A. Kondrat, Noreen Sajjad, Gavin M. King, Mark Douthwaite, Greg Shaw, Gemma L. Brett, Jennifer K. Edwards, David J. Morgan, Ghulam Hussain and Graham J. Hutchings
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00263B, Paper

Shreesha Bhat is a medicinal chemist pursuing his M.S.(Pharm.) in Medicinal Chemistry at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, India

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Catalysis Science & Technology’s impact factor for 2012 released

21 Jun 2013

The 2012 Journal Citation Reports ® have just been released and Catalysis Science & Technology received its first impact factor of 3.75.

We would like to thank all our authors, referees and readers who have contributed to this success, as well as the hard work from our Editorial and Advisory Board members to make this journal an important resource in the field of catalysis research.

The successes of all of the RSC’s journals in the recent impact factor release can be found here, highlighting the quality of our publications.

Check out our journal hompage for the latest news in catalysis, or submit your paper to us to ensure that it gets the attention it deserves.

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Cracking activity of Y zeolites depends on their Bronsted acidity

08 May 2013

Alkane cracking is an important industrial process, and zeolites are commonly used as catalysts in the reaction. There have been many studies into the reaction, and the variation in the catalytic activity between different zeolites is often explained by the differences in the heat of alkane adsorption on the zeolite, which is determined by the pore size.

In this paper, the authors proposed that the zeolite acid strength (the BrØnsted acidity), rather than heat of alkane adsorption on the zeolite is the main factor in determining the cracking activity. They supported this view with a series of experiments and computational studies on ultra-stable Y zeolites. These include measurements of how the activation energy of cracking varies with the acidity of the zeolite, and a density functional theory calculation of the reaction. The good agreement between the model and experimental results suggests that the proposed mechanism is correct.

Find out more from their paper:

Dependence of cracking activity on the Brønsted acidity of Y zeolite: DFT study and experimental confirmation
Miki Niwa, Katsuki Suzuki, Nami Morishita, German Sastre, Kazu Okumura and Naonobu Katada
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00195D, Paper

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Improving catalytic performance of (L)-proline with chiral additives

08 May 2013

(L)-proline is a common organocatalyst used in synthetic reactions to produce chiral molecules as it is cheap and readily available. However, it is not very efficient, and there has been much interest in optimising its performance. One method is the modification of (L)-proline through a redesign and resynthesis, which can be quite complex. An easier alternative is to find additives that can improve the reaction in terms of yield and selectivity.

In this paper, the authors synthesised and investigated the effects of a chiral additive, enantiopure substituted imidazoles, on the (L)-proline-catalyzed aldol reaction. They found that it has greatly improved the selectivity of the reaction and the reaction rate. Addition studies of the reaction mechanism suggests that the supramolecular complex formed by the imidazole and (L)-proline helps to improve the efficiency of the catalyst. Further work on different co-catalysts can open up many more reactions in which (L)-proline can be used as an effective catalyst.

Read the paper and find out more.

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of optically active 2-(2′- or 4′-substituted-1H-imidazol-1-yl)cycloalkanols: chiral additives for (L)-proline
Raul Porcar, Nicolás Ríos-Lombardía, Eduardo Busto, Vicente Gotor-Fernández, Vicente Gotor, Eduardo Garcia-Verdugo, M. Isabel Burguete and Santiago V. Luis
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY00107E, Paper

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Highly cited 2012 articles

02 May 2013

The following is ten of the most cited articles published in Catalysis Science and Technology in 2012. Read what has been making an impact in the world of catalysis.

Graphene-based materials for catalysis
Bruno F. Machado and Philippe Serp
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 54-75
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00361E

Recent advances in organocatalytic asymmetric Michael reactions
Yong Zhang and Wei Wang
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 42-53
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00334H

Organocatalytic enantioselective methodologies using Morita–Baylis–Hillman carbonates and acetates
Ramon Rios
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 267-278
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00387A

Ag nanoparticles decorated polyaniline nanofibers: synthesis, characterization, and applications toward catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and electrochemical detection of H₂O₂ and glucose
Guohui Chang, Yonglan Luo, Wenbo Lu, Xiaoyun Qin, Abdullah M. Asiri, Abdulrahman O. Al-Youbi and Xuping Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 800-806
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY00454B

Conversion of lignocellulose into renewable chemicals by heterogeneous catalysis
Hirokazu Kobayashi, Hidetoshi Ohta and Atsushi Fukuoka
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 869-883
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY00500J

Asymmetric catalysis using iron complexes – ‘Ruthenium Lite’?
Muftah Darwish and Martin Wills
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 243-255
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00390A

Iron(III) metal–organic frameworks as solid Lewis acids for the isomerization of α-pinene oxide
Amarajothi Dhakshinamoorthy, Mercedes Alvaro, Hubert Chevreau, Patricia Horcajada, Thomas Devic, Christian Serre and Hermenegildo Garcia
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 324-330
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY00376G

Aerobic oxidation of 5-hydroxylmethylfurfural with homogeneous and nanoparticulate catalysts
Basudeb Saha, Saikat Dutta and Mahdi M. Abu-Omar
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, 2, 79-81
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00321F

Speciation of Pd(OAc)₂ in ligandless Suzuki–Miyaura reactions
Luis A. Adrio, Bao N. Nguyen, Gemma Guilera, Andrew G. Livingston and King Kuok (Mimi) Hii
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012,2, 316-323
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00241D

Metal–organic frameworks for catalysis: the Knoevenagel reaction using zeolite imidazolate framework ZIF-9 as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst
Lien T. L. Nguyen, Ky K. A. Le, Hien X. Truong and Nam T. S. Phan
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012,2, 521-528
DOI: 10.1039/C1CY00386K

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