Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

Organometallics in catalysis: an article collection

29 Aug 2012

A collection of high impact articles focusing on organometallic complexes in catalysis, from the RSC’s Catalysis Science & Technology, ChemComm, Chemical Science, Dalton Transactions, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (OBC) and RSC Advances

Perhaps the most well-known applications of organometallics in catalysis are the Ziegler–Natta catalysts which are used to generate polymers, the catalysts are made up of mixtures of transition metal halides and organo-aluminium complexes. Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta were awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery and development of the catalysts, which today are the most commonly used for the manufacture of polythene.

The esteemed history of organometallics are not to be under-estimated and include Grignard’s reagents, the Heck reaction, Schrock catalysts, Grubbs’ catalysts and the Suzuki Coupling to name just a few. Organometallic compounds have revolutionised science and industry and to keep you up to date with the latest break-through research being made across all areas of organometallics in catalysis, we have made this cross-journal article collection free until the 26^th September.

Click here for the full list of free articles

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Ring opening of biomass-derived furan rings

14 Aug 2012

By Matthew Cude, Development Editor.

Fuel conversion from biomass to liquid hydrocarbons is a fast moving area of research and presents an opportunity to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and move towards a more carbon neutral fuel economy. For use in transportation there are currently a range of strategies being considered to create liquid fuel from different biomass feedstocks (see Catalytic routes for the conversion of biomass into liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuels).

John C. Gordon, L. A. ‘‘Pete’’ Silks and colleagues have recently investigated a method of opening biomass-derived furan rings, under mild conditions, using homogeneous Bronsted acid catalysis.

The products observed during acid catalyzed ring opening of furan containing biomass-derived substrates are strongly influenced by furan substituents.

When generating fuel from non-food biomass there are many chemical hurdles to overcome, including the breakdown of lignocellulose and subsequent deoxygenation and hydrogenation of the resulting products. Gasification followed by Fischer–Tropsch reaction is a promising route to biomass conversion, but requires high temperatures and initial oxidation of the biomass.

An important challenge is the opening of ring structures.

While cellulose based biofuel precursors can be hydrolyzed under mild conditions, subsequent dehydration of these sugars leads to the generation of furans and aldehydes. In their Hot Article John C. Gordon et al. have investigated experimentally and theoretically the ring opening mechanism of furans on molecules derived from biomass, using acid catalysis <100^oC. This important study gives insight into the ring opening process which is necessary to create linear alkane chains for use as liquid fuels.

Download their article for free to find out more

Functional group dependence of the acid catalyzed ring opening of biomass derived furan rings: an experimental and theoretical study
Christopher R. Waidmann, Aaron W. Pierpont, Enrique R. Batista, John C. Gordon, Richard L. Martin, L. A. “Pete” Silks, Ryan M. West and Ruilian Wu
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20395B

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Green route to efficient, reusable hydrogenation catalysts

08 Aug 2012

By Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant.

Solid supported nanoparticle catalysts could offer huge benefits for synthetic reactions in industry – both economically and environmentally. However, their difficult syntheses and stability problems mean that their practical employment is often far from acceptable on an industrial scale.

Italian researchers may have found the solution by using a simple procedure to embed palladium nanoparticles within commercially available ion exchange resins. The hydrogenation catalyst is cheap, green, easy to handle, minimises waste production and is easily recycled.

Nanoparticle catalyst

To find out more, download the article here

In-situ generation of resin-supported Pd nanoparticles under mild catalytic conditions: a green route to highly efficient, reusable hydrogenation catalysts
Carmen Moreno Marrodan, Debora Berti, Francesca Liguori and Pierluigi Barbaro
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20205K

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Steering aldoximes to primary or secondary amines

08 Aug 2012

By Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor.

Thomas Müller and colleagues have investigated the mechanism by which oximes are hydrogenated, usually giving a mixture of both primary and secondary amine products. Since primary amine functionality is desireable for many fine chemicals, it would be ideal to find a way to selectively generate primary amines in preference to their secondary relatives.

They disovered that the reaction proceeds via a pool of Schiff base and nitrile intermediates which can be directed towards primary or secondary amines depending on the choice of catalyst – first-row transition metal catalysts such as nickel encourage primary amine formation, whilst noble metal catalysts (Pd, Rh) encourage secondary amine formation.

To read about the reaction mechanism in detail, download the Catalysis Science & Technology article now…

Controlling Selectivity in the Reaction Network of Aldoxime Hydrogenation to Primary Amines
Ewa Gebauer-Henke, Walter Leitner, Angelina Prokofieva, Henning Vogt and Thomas Ernst Mueller

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The cream of catalysis – top cited articles of 2011

07 Aug 2012

By Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor.

Looking back over our first year’s worth of articles, we are delighted with the high quality work being published by our authors.

Here are the articles that you are citing the most so far*…

Top cited Reviews

Challenge and progress: palladium-catalyzed sp³ C–H activation
Hu Li, Bi-Jie Li and Zhang-Jie Shi
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 191-206

Two-dimensional zeolites: dream or reality?
Wieslaw J. Roth and Jiří Čejka
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 43-53

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles for asymmetric catalysis—a perfect match
Kalluri V. S. Ranganath and Frank Glorius
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 13-22

Well-defined copper(I) complexes for Click azide–alkyne cycloaddition reactions: one Click beyond
Silvia Díez-González
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 166-178

Metal–organic frameworks as heterogeneous catalysts for oxidation reactions
Amarajothi Dhakshinamoorthy, Mercedes Alvaro and Hermenegildo Garcia
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 856-867

Chemocatalytic conversion of cellulose: opportunities, advances and pitfalls
Jan A. Geboers, Stijn Van de Vyver, Roselinde Ooms, Beau Op de Beeck, Pierre A. Jacobs and Bert F. Sels
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 714-726

Recent advances in asymmetric catalysis with cinchona alkaloid-based primary amines
Lin Jiang and Ying-Chun Chen
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 354-365

A review of the development of nitrogen-modified carbon-based catalysts for oxygen reduction at USC
Gang Liu, Xuguang Li, Jong-Won Lee and Branko N. Popov
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 207-217

Towards near zero-sulfur liquid fuels: a perspective review
Barbara Pawelec, Rufino M. Navarro, José Miguel Campos-Martin and José L. G. Fierro
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 23-42

Design of hierarchical zeolite catalysts by desilication
Danny Verboekend and Javier Pérez-Ramírez
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 879-890

Top cited articles

Synthesis, characterization and ethylene oligomerization behaviour of 8-(1-aryliminoethylidene)quinaldinylnickel dihalides
Shengju Song, Tianpengfei Xiao, Tongling Liang, Fosong Wang, Carl Redshaw and Wen-Hua Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 69-75

Microwave-assisted synthesis of ZnO–graphene composite for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)
Xinjuan Liu, Likun Pan, Tian Lv, Ting Lu, Guang Zhu, Zhuo Sun and Changqing Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1189-1193

A straightforward zinc-catalysed reduction of sulfoxides to sulfides
Stephan Enthaler
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 104-110

Activity improvement of gold yolk–shell catalysts for CO oxidation by doping with TiO₂
Robert Güttel, Michael Paul and Ferdi Schüth
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 65-68

In situ green synthesis of Au nanostructures on graphene oxide and their application for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol
Yingwei Zhang, Sen Liu, Wenbo Lu, Lei Wang, Jingqi Tian and Xuping Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1142-1144

SBA-15-Pr–SO₃H as nanoreactor catalyzed oxidation of sulfides into sulfoxides
Kiumars Bahrami, Mohammad M. Khodaei and Peyman Fattahpour
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 389-393

Synthesis and characterization of versatile MgO–ZrO₂ mixed metal oxide nanoparticles and their applications
Manoj B. Gawande, Paula S. Branco, Kalpesh Parghi, Janhavi J. Shrikhande, Rajesh Kumar Pandey, C. A. A. Ghumman, N. Bundaleski, O. M. N. D. Teodoro and Radha V. Jayaram
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1653-1664

Gold(I)-catalyzed synthesis of furans and pyrroles via alkyne hydration
Pierrick Nun, Stéphanie Dupuy, Sylvain Gaillard, Albert Poater, Luigi Cavallo and Steven P. Nolan
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 58-61

Fabrication of a TiO₂ nanoparticles impregnated titanium mesh filter and its application for environmental purification
Tsuyoshi Ochiai, Toru Hoshi, Houda Slimen, Kazuya Nakata, Taketoshi Murakami, Hiro Tatejima, Yoshihiro Koide, Ammar Houas, Takuji Horie, Yuko Morito and Akira Fujishima
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 1324-1327

2-(1-Aryliminopropylidene)quinolylcobalt(II) dichlorides: synthesis, characterization and catalytic behaviour towards ethylene
Tianpengfei Xiao, Jingjuan Lai, Shu Zhang, Xiang Hao and Wen-Hua Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 462-469

Selective oxidation of biorenewable glycerol with molecular oxygen over Cu-containing layered double hydroxide-based catalysts
Chun-Hui Zhou, Jorge N. Beltramini, Chun-Xiang Lin, Zhi-Ping Xu, G. Q. (Max) Lu and A. Tanksale
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 111-122

Why not have a look at some of our other article collections?

Monthly top-accessed content
Reviews in catalysis
Outstanding organocatalysis
Zeal for zeolites
Incredible ionic liquids

*(Thomson Reuters®)

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Back to first principles for industry

27 Jul 2012

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

First-principles kinetic modeling in heterogeneous catalysis

This Perspective article by Reuter et al. focuses on the use of theoretical simulation tools based on ab initio calculations in heterogeneous catalysis –which to date have been rarely utilised by industry. The first half of the review covers state-of-the-art first principles-based kinetic modeling to encourage more widespread application in industry, the latter half then identifies the shortfalls of the modeling and attempts to identify areas in which more progress is needed.

For more information please read the full article for FREE at:

First-principles kinetic modeling in heterogeneous catalysis: an industrial perspective on best-practice, gaps and needs
Maarten K. Sabbe, Marie-Françoise Reyniers and Karsten Reuter
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20261A

Also of interest may be:

A first-principles theoretical approach to heterogeneous nanocatalysis
Fabio R. Negreiros, Edoardo Aprà, Giovanni Barcaro, Luca Sementa, Stefan Vajda and Alessandro Fortunelli
Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 1208–1219
DOI: 10.1039/C1NR11051A

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Asymmetric synthesis of chiral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

23 Jul 2012

By Helen Lunn, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees. And we’ve made it free to access for 4 weeks.

Advanced asymmetric synthesis of chiral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

In this HOT article, Shiina and co-workers extend their previous work to describe a Dynamic Kinetic Resolution (DKR) of 2-arylpropionic acids, which are used widely as drugs. By careful study and optimization of the reaction conditions the DKR protocol was found to be applicable to a wide range of substrates and the preparation of (S)-ibuprofen is given as an example.

Read more for FREE about this exciting new protocol at:

Non-enzymatic dynamic kinetic resolution of racemic α-arylalkanoic acids: an advanced asymmetric synthesis of chiral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
Isamu Shiina, Keisuke Ono and Kenya Nakata
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20329D

Also of interest:

(R)-(+)-N-Methylbenzoguanidine ((R)-NMBG) catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemic secondary benzylic alcohols with free carboxylic acids by asymmetric esterification
Kenya Nakata and Isamu Shiina
Org. Biomol. Chem., 2011, 9, 7092-7096
DOI: 10.1039/C1OB05736G

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Biocatalysis themed issue

17 Jul 2012

By Fiona McKenzie, Executive Editor.

Catalysis Science & Technology has published its latest themed issue in the topic of Biocatalysis, guest edited by Professor Nick Turner from the University of Manchester.

As Professor Turner details in his Editorial, biotechnology is becoming increasingly more attractive from an industry perspective as the demand for environmentally sustainable processes rises.

Here’s a small taster of the articles included. Click here to browse the full issue.

Review: Different strategies to enahnce the activity of lipase catalysts
Marzia Marciello, Marco Filice and Jose M. Palomo

Review: Exploiting duality in nature: industrial examples of enzymatic oxidation and reduction reactions
K. Robins and A. Osorio-Lozada

Communication: Reductive dehalogenation of β-haloacrylic ester derivatives mediated by ene-reductases
Gábor Tasnádi, Christoph K. Winkler, Dorina Clay, Mélanie Hall and Kurt Faber

Paper: Enantiopure 3-methyl-3,4-dihydroisocoumarins and 3-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolines via chemoenzymatic asymmetric transformations
Juan Mangas-Sánchez, Eduardo Busto, Vicente Gotor-Fernández and Vicente Gotor

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Half-titanocene pre-catalysts for olefin polymerisation

17 Jul 2012

By Jennifer Newton, Publishing Editor.

This article is HOT as recommended by the referees.

The complexes helped produce polymers with narrow polydispersity and high molecular weights.

Synthetic polymers are everywhere in modern life and offer multiple opportunities for future materials with a wide range of applications. Using transition metal complex catalysts to precisely control olefin polymerisation is of current interest as they allow the synthesis of polyolefins with set microstructures. Carl Redshaw, Wen-Hua Sun and colleagues have synthesised and fully characterised a series of half-titanocene dichloride 2-aryliminoquinolin-8-olates and tested them with modified methylaluminoxane co-catalysts in ethylene polymerisations and co-polymerisations.

Download the paper today to find out more, including how bulky substituents at the arylimino group of ligands modified the catalytic activities of the complexes:

Synthesis, characterization, and the ethylene (co-)polymerization behaviour of half-titanocene dichloride 2-aryliminoquinolin-8-olates
Wei Huang, Wenjuan Zhang, Wen-Hua Sun, Lin Wang and Carl Redshaw
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20240A, Paper

Why not take a look at some other recent work from the team that we have published in Catalysis Science & Technology:

Nickel bis{4,6-dibenzhydryl-2-[(arylimino)methyl]phenoxylate} complexes: Synthesis, structures, and catalytic behaviour towards ethylene and norbornene
Zihong Zhou, Xiang Hao, Carl Redshaw, Langqiu Chen and Wen-Hua Sun
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012,2, 1340-1345
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY20028G, Paper

Remember all Catalysis Science & Technology articles are currently free to access… sign up for free access now!

You might also find the 2009 Dalton Transactions themed issue on Metal-Catalysed Polymerisation interesting.

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Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

Organometallics in catalysis: an article collection

Ring opening of biomass-derived furan rings

Green route to efficient, reusable hydrogenation catalysts

Steering aldoximes to primary or secondary amines

Top ten most accessed articles in June

The cream of catalysis – top cited articles of 2011

Back to first principles for industry

Asymmetric synthesis of chiral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Biocatalysis themed issue

Half-titanocene pre-catalysts for olefin polymerisation

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